


RESET

by GRAEN



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: AU School boys, Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Jaewin is bff goal, Johnny loves dark, Johnwin, M/M, Slow Build, but Sicheng hates dark, jaewin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2018-10-01 11:32:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 39,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10189016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GRAEN/pseuds/GRAEN
Summary: They're like two different things.One of them has been living in the darkness, cruel things in every corner of his life, and never has any wish to see the light because he knows he doesn't deserve it and doesn't need it.Meanwhile the other one has been feeling so bored with the light in his life since he was born that it can hurt hi eyes and he needs to close his eyes for a while to find a darkness.





	1. Two Different Worlds

**Author's Note:**

> the chaptered version of HOPELESS.   
> Sorry if you find tons of typos and error grammar

_It's the world that would meet with the other one accidentally_

The loud sound of alarm clock just forced Johnny to woke up from his 2 hours sleep. His hand groped the empty spot on his left side until he reached the edge of a small table near his bed. Carelessly, he grabbed the noisy alarm clock and threw it on the wall harshly that it got broken and no longer worked. He wanted to curse, but he himself couldn't get away from the drowsiness. Therefore, he only ended up groaning as he rubbed his face roughly and pulled the blanket up over his head, being ready to get back to sleep.

However, his instinct told him to open his eyes and remove the blanket from his face. As an expected, he followed his instinct because he felt something was happening.

"By the way, that was the fifth alarm clock that you've destroyed."

A someone's voice welcomed him as he pulled away his blanket from his face. Realizing who that someone was, he only sighed and rolled his eyes. "Get out of my room," he muttered.

"Next time if Boss asks me for..."

"I said get out of my room!" He threw one of his pillows towards that person but only got an annoying laughter as the response. And a second later, the pillow that he threw suddenly flew back towards him and hit his face. "You Asshole!"

"Yeah, whatever you say, You Lazy Ass. You better hurry up because we have something to do this morning. Ten minutes."

That the only things Johnny heard before that someone walked out of his room and slammed the door. He dropped his head to his pillow before letting out a heavy sigh, eyes looking up to the ceiling above him which was all full of dark. Literally, there's no light inside his room. Completely dark and nearly could be called as black since he barely could see anything.

Yeah, dark or black.... two similar colors, or even if dark could be called as a color, he liked the most. He felt comfortable when he's in the room or place like this. It had been his favorite since his childhood. Reason? He didn't know any reason why he liked dark place like his room.

 

 

"Breakfast?" A guy in blue leather jacket showed a toast towards Johnny when he opened the door.

"Give me the new one," Johnny replied lazily, dragging his own feet into the kitchen after ignoring death glare from that guy. He took a bottle of water from the fridge and placed it onto the table. "What kind of thing was that?" He questioned the guy as he sat on the chair.

"What thing?"

Johnny didn't know if that guy was acting stupid or being ready to get some punches in his face, but he found it annoying. Today he was just not in a good mood to play some jokes. "Yuta."

That guy named Yuta only snorted and gave a toast for him.

"Boss told us to take a package today. Those people already sent it this early morning," Yuta spoke after he shipped his morning coffee.

"Where?"

"They said they placed it in the store near school building...." Yuta paused his words, letting his lips parted for a moment as if he's recalling something. "Aah..., that white building. Did I say it right? okay, whatever. I remember that store and that school."

"Only two of us?"

"You don't wanna go with me? Hey, Johnny, no matter how far you try to avoid me, we will always end up being together. You and me were born to each...." Yuta couldn't finish his line because Johnny already kicked the legs of chair near him, causing him almost dropped his coffee glass on the floor. He turned around in his seat, being ready to curse at Johnny.

"Stop talking nonsense. I'm your senior here. Although we're same age friends, you still can't say anything you want to me." Johnny ignored how Yuta looked like he was about to attack him with his coffee glass.

"Senior? What senior? Literally, you're just the youngest member here. No, we are the youngest members here. You think I'm scared of you only because you always say that? Nope, Buddy. You're wrong and...." Yuta's phone buzzed on the table and it made Yuta gestured Johnny to wait. He got one message and it seemed from their boss. "Well... uhmm... we don't have much time today. Actually I still want to roast you, but duty comes first. Let's continue this conversation later. We're going now."

Johnny only snorted quietly as he saw his friend walking out of their small apartment. After putting back the bottle into the fridge, he grabbed his black coat and slipped his phone in his ripped jeans's pocket.

Yeah, _duty comes first_. It's the slogan that he'd been holding since he joined this group five years ago. Officially, anyway. He's not sure if he could call his group as a _group_ since all he and his members did was only doing things which other normal people would think of it as _bad_ ones.

Johnny couldn't tell everything he had been doing this five years was bad or right. He just did what he had to do. It's the rules he got and he's always ready to do it.

 

A black car just stopped near the small store and a second later, Yuta and Johnny's figure came out of the car, eyes observing their surrounding naturally before getting in to the store. Yuta casually walked towards the ice cream freezer and grabbed two ice creams.

"I'll ask the owner," Yuta spoke, hand offering one of his ice creams to Johnny but only getting a rejection. "You just rejected a thing that can make your dead brain alive." He walked over the store owner and talked with her for couple minutes.

Johnny sighed and randomly touched some snacks on the shelf near him, eyes wandering towards every corner inside the store to look for that package though he knew those people weren't that stupid to place it on random spot. A pack of vanilla cookies barely slipped out of his hand when a bunch of school boys broke into the store. Their laughs sounded so noisy that Johnny could yell at them to shut up. In a short moment, he gave a little attention towards those boys who kept shouting at each other while picking some soft drinks. They looked so innocent and naive in his eyes. Too innocent for this cruel world.

Or was it only him who thought of it? They seemed normal and had not seen any bad things in their little peace world. Yet. He hoped they never experience the kind of world he had been living in.

A slow pat on his shoulder dragged him out of his thoughts. He turned only to see a brown-colored box right beside his left eye.

"Let's go," Yuta said after removing the box from Johnny's face.

"You got it?"

Yuta raised the box in his hand and pushed Johnny's back to walk towards the door. "We need to confirm it to them. That old lady gave me this phone number. So, now it's your turn. You call this number and say we already go the package."

"We should check it first before confirming it. What if they gave us bad quality?" Johnny stopped his hand from pushing the door.

"This gun! This thing....." Yuta was forced to pause when he realized his voice suddenly got high and those school boys turned over them simultaneously. Their facial expression made him yelling at them "What?! Mind your own business, Toddlers!"

Knowing his friend's temper, Johnny immediately pushed the door forward and dragged Yuta out. He didn't want this stupid guy having a nonsense fight with unknown teens since they still had more important thing to do.

 

oOo

_There's other world that had been doing fine untill it almost crashed with that world if only there's no any distraction_

 

Sicheng jumped over Jaehyun's back after they crossed the road and got a slap on his butt from the back because he almost made Jaehyun fall down.

"He's always like this after telling us that kind of lame story," Kun scoffed as he walked together with Doyoung behind Sicheng and Jaehyun.

"What kind of lame story? I didn't hear at all. I'm sorry," Doyoung laughed. "Was it about the darkness again? Wow, I just realized I have a friend that really loves something stupid."

"No snack for you, Kim Doyoung," Sicheng said as he put his hand around Jaehyun's shoulders.

"But today is your penalty, though. You lost the game yesterday, so you have to buy us snacks before we go to school. Woah, Grandpa Sicheng is here," Doyoung replied sarcastically.

Jaehyun and Kun laughed so hard.

"You were cheating, All of you!" Sicheng cried out defensively.

"You're the one who couldn't play football. Wait, your soccer skill point is zero," Doyoung directly shouted Sicheng's weakness, causing the black haired boy ran over him and gave him some punches on his arms.

"You don't want to let him alive, do you?" Jaehyun guessed, hand pointing at the store near them to give a signal that they finally arrived.

"Never gonna stop it, anyway," Doyoung finally could speak after he managed avoiding Sicheng. "His Dad won't arrest me even if I tell his son to cross-dress as a girl next time," he playfully attacked Sicheng  again.

"Can we use it for the next game? What about ping-pong?" Suddenly Kun said and could make Jaehyun laughing when he pushed the door.

"Don't talk anymore, Kun!" Sicheng yelled.

"You're not good at being angry, Dong Sicheng. You always look like a kid when you're like that. Just don't be so hard on yourself."

"A five years old kid who can't even reach his opponent's hand when they're fighting."

Their laughs just turned into crazy ones as they entered the store. The urge to push his friends towards the shelves was so strong for Sicheng, but he knew he couldn't do that. He didn't want the owner of this store kick him out and never let him get in anymore.

"Is it fine if we eat ice cream this morning?" Doyoung asked innocently after grabbing some packs of vanilla ice creams.

"Is he acting innocent again? If it is, I just want to tell him to try other trick. It's already old stuff and he's trying to bring it up again. Such a nonsense," Sicheng spoke after leaning his back against the freezer door behind him, his hand reaching a small pack of potato chips and pulling Jaehyun's arm to stand next to him.

"I'll take this." Jaehyun showed chocolate sticks.

"Only that? You can pick whatever you want, Jaehyun," Sicheng said in low voice.

"Yeah, I know. Even if I want a lux suite, you will buy it for me and...."

"You're too much, Jung Jaehyun. Don't be too delusional," Sicheng cut off, waving his hand in front of Jaehyun's face to wake up him from his silly thoughts. He looked at Doyoung and Kun for a moment and they seemed talking about something funny that could make them laughing so hard. He nudged his elbow to Jaehyun's arm as if he wanted to make their own little conversation.

"What?"

"Can you accompany me tonight?" Sicheng asked in very low voice, almost sounded like a whisper.

"Again?" Jaehyun raised his brow.

Sicheng rolled his eyes, feeling annoyed on jaehyun's reaction. "Jaehyun..."

"It's not like it's your first time asking me for something like that, though. You better get rid of the "Can" word next time if you don't want to hear a rejection from me," Jaehyun laughed.

Sicheng only sighed loudly. "You just have to say yes or no," he retorted a second later and was about to pretend kicking Doyoung's legs if only he didn't hear someone shouting near cashier counter.

_"This gun! This thing...."_

Sicheng and his friends turned their heads towards two guys who were standing not too far away from their spot. He couldn't figure out what those guys talking about.

"What?! Mind your own business, Toddlers!"

One of the guys shouted over them. Of course, he and his friends raised their brows, not knowing why that guy in blue leather jacked had to yell at them like that. Doyoung was the only one who being ready to yell back if that guy's friend didn't pushed him out of the store. Sicheng only slightly looked at that super tall guy from the back and decided not to give any attention since he had no idea who they were.

"What's wrong with that old man?" Doyoung grunted, his eyes keep staring at the guys who already stood near their car outside the store. "He called us Toddlers. You heard that, right? Woah, That short old man...."

"At least he's not skinny like you," Sicheng cut off Doyoung's rants.

"And stupid," Jaehyun added and high-fived with Sicheng. Doyoung looked so pissed off on these boys who always in sync when it came to bullying him.

"Guys." Kun tried to remind his friends that they had to get out of here. "School is waiting."

"You go first. I'll pay for these things first." Sicheng quickly ran over the owner.

 

 

It's already 10 p.m, Sicheng and Jaehyun just arrived at his home. A second they entered the home, all the lights welcomed them after Sicheng turned them on in one touch. Although it's not his first time visiting Sicheng's huge house, Jaehyun still felt amazed on everything Sicheng had. Especially those lights on the ceiling and those unique lamps on the tables which literally you could see them every corner in the house. And of course none of them that was off. You wouldn't see any dark spot in this house, except when you went outside.

"Your Dad is not going home again tonight?" Jaehyun questioned when Sicheng already disappeared from the living room. He threw his backpack onto the huge couch near him and made a way for himself to sit onto the other one.

"He said there's some case he had to investigate. And I bet he would go home two or three days later. Pitty, huh?" Sicheng walked back into the living room with a sweatpants and white T-shirt. "No more embarrassing moment tonight, I guess," he said as he showed the clothes to Jaehyun.

"New?" Jaehyun rose his brow, pointing at the clothes.

"Don't you see the price tags here? I purposely didn't rip them off so that you can see the efforts I put only to buy these things for you," Sicheng replied bluntly and dropped the clothes on Jaehyun's lap.

Jaehyun only snorted before taking the clothes and getting up. "Let's just go to sleep. If you wanna play some game, go play by yourself," He said as he climbed up the stairs.

Sicheng hurriedly locked all the doors and followed Jaehyun towards his own room. But then, when they're already in the room, they only lay down on the bed, covering themselves with thick blanket and being in silence. Jaehyun was still completely awake beside Sicheng who nearly fell asleep before his heavy sigh was heard.

Sicheng noticed and turned to look at him. "Can't sleep?"

"I think I drank to much coffee today," Jaehyun replied in his weak voice.

"What coffee?" Sicheng narrowed his eyes. "Don't try to fool me. You drank coke today that you almost couldn't say anything because you're busy burping."

"Shut up."

There's a silence again after Jaehyun finished talking.

"Do you want me to turn off the light?" Sicheng knew Jaehyun couldn't sleep if the light was still on.

"Huh, are you trying to be cool? If you turn off the light, you'll be the one who can't sleep at all. I just don't want you hugging me like a koala for the whole night because you're scared," Jaehyun replied and yawned a moment later.

Without saying anything, Sicheng turned off all the lights in his room and get back to the bed. His hands clutched the edge of his blanket on his chest. Obviously, he looked so frightened, slowly having mental breakdown only because his room went dark.

"Told ya," Jaehyun murmured, hand grasping Sicheng's and pulled it on him. "Tonight is another hell for me. My part time job is being a tree for human version of koala named Dong Sicheng in the night."

"I'm not gonna hug you," Sicheng retorted.

"Are you sure you really loves darkness or dark stuff or whatever it is?"

"Don't mock me. I'm trying to sleep here."

"I have an idea to make us fall asleep quickly," Jaehyun smirked as he turned, looking at Sicheng and jokingly seducing him. "Let's have a sex, once we're tired, we could fall asleep easily."

Within less than two second, Jaehyun had to groan i pain after he got a punch from Sicheng.

"Go to hell, Jung Jaehyun! You're freak!" Sicheng exclaimed and threw a pillow towards him.

despite being in pain, Jaehyun still could manage to laugh at Sicheng. "I'm joking! I just can't stand on your "I like darkness but I hate being in dark place" phase. It's so ridiculous."


	2. Accidentally Meeting You

Johnny was drinking his Americano when a bunch of men in black jackets stormed into the house, acting like they didn’t realize there were a guy at the living room who watching them, or maybe they really didn’t know.

Johnny kept staring at them who were climbing up the stairs to the second floor. “They seem to be in hurry,” He spoke a second later after those people disappeared.

“They wanna pee.... I guess....”

Yuta’s reply made Johnny turn towards him and almost give him a slap on his tigh.

“This house has two bathrooms, though. And one of them is on the second floor and—“

“Can you shut up?” Johnny was already sick of Yuta’s random answer. He turned away and gave a slight glance towards the stairs.

“Seriously, Johnny.” Yuta shifted closer to Johnny and grabbed Johnny’s cup. “What’s going on with you today? You’ve been this salty since this morning. Tell me before I break your neck because I really wanted to do it when you pushed me out of that store,” Yuta voice sounded so friendly when he said that.

Johnny took a deep breath before giving an answer. “Don’t you think he always gives us an easy jobs? The easiest ones?”

Yuta slowly jerked his head away, brows furrowed. “He?”

“Boss,” Johnny replied in low voice.

“Boss? And… easy jobs?” Yuta completely didn’t get what Johnny was talking about. “Excuse me. Can you talk in human language? I’m not an alien like you.”

Johnny sighed and leaned his back in the couch. “I think our boss can’t trust us to do something that other members always do. I still don’t know what kind of job they get, but I guess it’s bigger, more important and more complicated than we get.”

For a second, Yuta was only looking at Johnny, but then he snorted loudly that Johnny had to turned to judge him.

“Are you jealous? It’s better than he gives us nothing to do, though. Can you just be grateful?”

It’s not that Johnny wasn’t grateful on everything he got to do, but it’s something else. He thought his boss purposely gave him those easy jobs because he wasn’t worthy to do some kind of difficult ones. Of course, he felt so offended about it since he had been thinking of it for such a long time.

“I’ll talk to him.” Johnny stood up, walking over to the stairs.

But the problem when he’s on second floor was he couldn’t directly get into his boss’ office room. There were around 5-7 men outside the room, standing near the door and talking something he didn’t know.

It seemed his presence distracted them a little and all he could do was only bowing for several times, apologizing since he’s younger than them. Bu then he put a deadpan expression on his face while waiting for whoever inside the room was to get out, ignoring them who slightly stole a glance towards him.

Everyone slightly jolted, including Johnny who were asking himself why he had to get surprised like them, when finally the door opened and a second later a big guy came out with unreadable expression.

Johnny only could keep his mouth shut when they gathered to walk towards the stairs. He silently stepped aside, giving them a way to go down. Although he’s curious on what they’re talking about, he still had more thing to do.

“I need to meet him now,” he murmured to himself before walking over to the his boss’ room. But a second he stood in front of the doorway, he stopped himself, suddenly loosing almost all his courage to meet his boss. He questioned himself if he took the right choice to see him only to ask about the unfairness he got all this time.

When he’s about to turn around, the voice from inside the room made him freeze there, not knowing what he had to do.

“Come in, Johnny.”

As if he got hypnotized, slowly he walked into the room, ducking his head as he approached the man who was standing near the window.

He lifted his head to look at him before bowing to greet him politely. That man.... was a little bit shorter than him, skinnier than him if he had to compare with he himself and the way he wore his plain black shirt was a bit messy. All the members respected him so much since he’s the boss here. A number one man who had a full control of this group to the point he could kick anyone out of here or had a right to kill anyone of them if he wanted. Sounded so scary but it’s true.

“I didn’t know you’re here today.” That black-haired man moved his hand, gesturing Johnny to sit on one of the chairs in front of his desk but he got a polite rejection from the younger as he pulled back his own chair. He noticed something weird on Johnny’s expression.

“What’s wrong?”

Johnny didn’t answer. This tall guy kept staring his own laps before he heard that man calling out his name.

“Johnny?”

“Wait a minute.” Johnny got up and walked towards the door to close it. He took a deep breath and exhaled as he still faced the closed door before turning back to his seat.

“Boss…” Johnny finally spoke. He rested his elbows onto the desk. “I want you to give me other job.”

“I just did two days ago, remember? For now, there’s no job that—“

“The other job, Boss,” Johnny interrupted.

That man who Johnny called Boss only sighed. Surprisingly, there’s no sign he’d be mad since one of his members just cut him off bluntly like that. As if he knew where their conversation would go, he only smiled a little.

“Are we gonna talk about that again?”

“Since the last time we did was two years ago, I think, yes.” Johnny paused, waiting for his boss’ response. But after he noticed that man didn’t say anything, he continued what he wanted to say. “ Boss, I don’t want you to treat me like I’m a ten years old kid. It’s been 5 years since I joined this group, but you never let me do anything except taking a small package.”

Johnny only got a little nod from his boss after he spoke the thing that kept bothering him. That’s not what he wanted. He needed a sensible answer. Okay, it probablay sounded nothing for his boss or anyone else, including Yuta. But for Johnny who had felt since five years ago, it’s indeed serious issue.

Well, he wouldn’t be so pissed off like this if he’s only 17 years old. But no, he’s already 23 years old, which meant he’s old enough and quiet capable to do more proper job from his boss which usually done by other members who were older than him.

“Do you still remember that you’re the one who forced me to let you join this group?” His boss tried to make Johnny recalling something in the past.

Johnny...., he surely couldn’t forget that past time. What his boss said was right after all. When he’s still 17 years old, he constantly kept asking him to allow him to join the group. He even still remembered how he stood in front of this room for 48 hours only to wait for the yes word from his boss. He didn’t care if he’s hungry to the death and his legs already looked like jelly.

He was stubborn and now he’s not much different. He’s still stubborn. Even worse than before.

“Can you stop treating me like a kid? Actually the simple thing you can do is treating me and trusting me like you do to other members, giving me the same job just like them.” Instead of answering his boss, Johnny continued expressing his frustration.

“No. I can’t, Johnny. I can’t let you do stuff like what they usually do. You know me very well. Everything they do is not as easy as you think. And I don’t treat you like a kid. I trust you more than the other members here. But there’s a thing that I don’t want you to know. There’s a line that I don’t want you to cross it.”

Johnny didn’t seem touched on what his boss said to him, though his voice sounded pretty sincere. He knew his boss’s voice tone always turned into warm and soft when he talked to him, as if he’s talking to his own beloved son. Such a huge different when he talked to other members.

“But why I feel I already crossed that line? I’ve been living here since I was a kid, Boss. I know this place too well to the point I can walk around with my eyes closed without crashing anything. I know.... what kind of world I’ve been living in.” Johnny leaned his back against the wodden chair and sighed quietly.

It shouldn’t be like this. Johnny couldn’t let this situation keep getting worse. It’s too much. Fucking too much that he might have a plan to go away from this place that practically he could call as home if his mind wasn’t in a right state.

“I just want to make you feel proud of me,” Johnny said in low voice.

“Like what? Okay, since you seem already know what kind of thing we’ve been doing all this time, you should’ve known there’s nothing can make us proud. We’ve been doing illegal things. All cops in this town might look after us once they can find us..”

“I can take care of myself!” Johnny interrupted and got a sigh from his boss. “Just let me prove that I can do well. I know the risk and I know how to handle it. I’ve been learning all the stuff here, Boss!”

The tension just popped out like nothing happened when suddenly his boss’ phone buzzed, cutting off Johnny’s rage. He furrowed his brows waiting for the man in front of him to finish talking to whoever it was on his phone. But a second later, he got even mad after his boss said “We’ll talk about this later” to him. For the nth time, his boss cut their conversation like this, hanging him with a lot of questions.

He hated this.

 

oOo

 

Sicheng slumped over the table in front of him after he and all his classmates heard a bell from outside their class. He could feel his brain almost exploded that he had to planted his head onto the table, not having any strength left to lift it.

He hated Math. He hated everything related that school subject.

“20 tasks and she only give us 2 days to finish them? Is he even human?” Sicheng grunted on his seat, still didn’t move his head. Jaehyun who sat right next to him only chuckled while checking something on his phone.

“She is human. It’s just you who always can’t do anything when it comes to Math,” Jaehyun replied carelessly without turning to see his poor best friend.

When Sicheng was about to retort, suddenly his body got pushed that he almost fell off his chair if Jaehyun didn’t hold his arm. It was Doyoung who jumped off his own seat and threw himself over Sicheng with an excited expression on his face.

“Sicheng, look!” Doyoung shoved his phone to Sicheng’s face, causing the Chinese boy jerked his head away because he got shocked by his action. “Your Dad’s name is taking all over the main page of news sites!”

Kun sifted his seat closer to Sicheng’s table after hearing what Doyoung said. “Where? I wanna see it too!”

Doyoung narrowed his eyes towards Kun as he said, “You have phone too, Kun. Just check it by yourself.” Less than a second, he turned his expression into happy again and shoved his phone again to Sicheng’s face that Sicheng could feel his nose crashed against the screen of Doyoung’s phone.

Sicheng had to grab Doyoung’s wrist and pulled it away from his face so he could snatch the phone and looked the thing that made Doyoung crazy. Just like what Doyoung said, his Dad’s name was on the main page of almost all today news sites. Mostly the titles called his Dad a hero, a savior or something like that after his team managed to catch a serial killer that already murdered seven innocent people.

“At least he did something useful after abandoning his own son for a week, huh? Can relate,” Sicheng murmured as he gave the phone back to Doyoung and leaned his back against his chair, exhaling a heavy breath.

Jaehyun noticed Sicheng’s sarcastic words and only poked his arm. Sicheng smiled dryly and pushed Doyoung away from his seat.

“Are you really gonna be this salty about the news, Sicheng?” Doyoung asked, leaning his hips against the edge of Sicheng’s table and kept scrolling down the page to see if there’s another news again. “Your Dad is awesome though. I mean look at these news!”

“Yeah, as expected from my Dad’s biggest fan,” Sicheng giggled.

“I should go, guys. I have something to do after this.” Kun grabbed his bag and slung it on his shoulder, giving a light ruffle on Sicheng’s hair all of sudden. “See you tomorrow, Kid.”

“Stop calling me kid!” Sicheng groaned, trying to kick Kun’s legs but only got an empty air behind him.

“Buy me cola and I’ll stop calling you kid,” Kun laughed as he did fist-bump with Doyoung and Jaehyun as a good bye.

“Cross-fingers~~~” Doyoung added as he got back to his own table and put all his books into the bag.

“Never mind. Let’s go to the usual store before you go home. I’ll pay the cola.” Jaehyun stood and got a “Woooo” echo from his friends.

“He’s trying to be a hero for Sicheng. Why am I not surprised though?” Doyoung playfully judged Jaehyun who offered a black bag to Sicheng.

“I was born to be his hero, anyway and—ummmphh~” Jaehyun couldn’t finish his words because a palm just covered his mouth. He stumbled on his own feet as Sicheng hugged him from the back while his mouth still got covered by Sicheng’s hand.

“You’re so annoying.” Sicheng smacked Jaehyun’s lips with his hand before pushed him away from the table. “I’ll pay the drink. Let’s just get out of here,” he continued as placed his arm around Kun’s shoulders and walked out of the class.

“Are you guys dating?” Doyoung bluntly asked.

Jaehyun’s eyes got widened. He’s surprised, obviously. “What?”

“For real?”

“What are you talking about? We’re just friends. You do know who Sicheng is, how Sicheng is. He’s a toddler who’s stuck in giant body. We all treat him like a kid though he always seems to be ready to kill us everytime we call him kid. Get your sense back, Kim Doyoung.” Jaehyun rolled his eyes on Doyoung’s nonsense thought.

Doyoung snorted. “You and your monoton answer. Hey, I won’t deny if I like Sicheng too. He’s adorable yet so bratty sometimes that I really wanna punch him in the face. And don’t forget about how Kun still has that weird feeling to him, although sometimes I get confused on his action. Does he like him as a lil brother or—Hey, Jaehyun! I’m talking to you!” Doyoung growled because Jaehyun just stepped away, leaving him alone in the class.

Jaehyun only shook his head, feeling annoyed on anything Doyoung said. Without waiting for that brown-haired boy, he ran towards Sicheng and Kun. His hand casually reached Sicheng’s shoulder and pulled him away a little from Kun to wich made Sicheng’s arm slumped down from Kun’s shoulder. Now the Chinese Boy completely in his arm.

“Do I have to accompany you again tonight?” Jaehyun asked as they walked towards the gate. There’s a sound of Doyoung’s footsteps running behind them.

“You frequently visit his house every night?” Kun’s voice cut off Jaehyun’s glance towards Sicheng. He turned to look at Kun and nodded.

“This scaredy-cat needs a savior in the night—What the ff~” Jaehyun hissed as someone hit the back of his head pretty hard. That’s Doyoung, anyway, getting revenge because Jaehyun ignored him and left him alone in the class.

“Excuse me. No skinship, please.” Doyoung parted Sicheng and Jaehyun away and laughed.

 

These four boys didn’t stop joking around as they arrived in front of the store. Sicheng entered the store alone after asking his stupid friends which drinks they wanted to buy. He directly walked towards the fridge. But he had to stop himself because there’s a tall guy who was standing right in front of the fridge without doing anything, at least that’s what Sicheng thought. He tried to take the right and left side of the guy, but this guy completely froze right in the middle.

“Eeeummm... sorry....,” Sicheng raised his head a little to look at that guy because he’s shorther than him. But it seemed that guy couldn’t hear his voice.

Hesitantly, Sicheng tapped his arm. He slightly jolted when the guy was surprised by his action.

“I’m sorry. You’re blocking me. I......” Sicheng paused his words as the tall guy looked over his shoulder. Well, it seemed to be Sicheng’s turn to freeze. He wouldn’t deny that those hawk eyes already intimated him for no reason. His hair was brown and some strands fell down to his face, almost covering his left eyes. Actually not only his scary facial structure and expresion that scared him, but also that black leather jacket and jeans.

That’s Johnny, anyway. Johnny who felt so depressed after he got rejection from his boss and somehow he ended being here, standing like a weird person in front of the fridge without knowing what to do for almost 15 minutes untill a high schooler woke him up from his messy thoughts about his boss.

Sicheng blinked his eyes and cleared his throat. “You….you’re blocking my way to get those drinks,” he said, hand pointing at the fridge in front of Johnny.

Without saying anything, Johnny stepped aside, giving Sicheng access to reach the fridge door.

Sicheng immediately opened the fridge and scanned everything inside it. He felt something odd came from the left side of him. Hesitantly he turned his head only to find Johnny standing and leaning his arm against the shelves, strangely staring at him with that unreadable expression. Of course, it made him feel uneasy that he kept picking the wrong cans of cola and wrong bottle of juice. For the first can, he could manage to pick it from the fridge and brought it into his arm. But he failed for the second one that he clumsily dropped it to the floor. He just looked so dumfounded when the can was rolling on the floor. And he cursed to that can in his head which stopped rolling after it slightly bumped to Johnny’s boot.

Out of the few people inside the store, why it had to be Johnny? The scary stranger who was staring at him.

And Johnny, he just furrowed his brows as he noticed the can near his boot. He clicked his tongue and bent down to pick it up. Keeping his mouth shut, he handed the can to Sicheng who seemed a little scared to him.

“T-thank you.” Sicheng used his both hands to received the can he dropped before. He didn’t even forget to bow and thanked him one more time.

Johnny nodded. Now it’s his turn to open the fridge to grab a can of beer. Before turning back to make a way towards the cashier counter, he slightly have a glance to Sicheng who already stood a little bit further from him picking some snacks on the shelves.

Another random person he bumped into today. He hated this kind of situation when his mind wasn’t in the right track. Everytime something bothered him and his mind was unstable, he always had some uncomfortable interactions with unknown people.

“Are you gonna pay for this or not?”

A husky voice of the store owner dragged Johnny’s thought back. He rushed slipping his hand into his jeans pocket to take his money. A second later he ducked his head to look at his hand. There’s nothing in there. He checked another pockets on his jeans, but still, he couldn’t find any cash.

Damn it.

He looked so dumb now when the store owner was judging him by her glare.

“I’ll pay for his drink, along with mine too, Ma’am.”

Johnny turned to his left side, finding Sicheng already stood right beside him dropping all the things he picked before on the counter and pulling out his blue-colored wallet of his backpack.

Sicheng handed some money to the store owner while received a plactic bag contained his drinks and snacks. He stared at the can of beer which was still on the counter for a second before looked up to Johnny and said in polite tone, “Hyungnim. Thank you for helping me.”

Johnny didn’t say anything. His eyes were following Sicheng from bowing at him to rushing out of the store untill the store owner knocked the counter a little bit loud. He quickly grabbed his beer and walked out.

Johnny cursed himself quietly as he decided to look at Sicheng one more time. That boy was already far away from his sight. He sighed as he look down to the beer in his hand. Stupid. A kid literally just paid for his beer because of his dumbness not having any money. He wouldn’t deny that he felt so embarrassed.

His phone buzzed in his jacket’s pocket. His eyes were still on Sicheng’s figure when he took out his phone. The only moment he cut his stare was when he had to see who’s calling him.

It’s Yuta.

“What?” He spoke heartlessly as went back to look at Sicheng who was out of his sight.

[I don’t know what you were talking about with Boss, but he just told me that we have to be ready for tonight.]

Johnny’s brows furrowed. “What?”

[Can you say something else instead of that fucking what? I said we have to be ready for tonight.]

“For what?”

[I’m not sure but when I tried to ask to those hyungs, they said it’s firearms trafficking deals or something....]

Johnny’s eyes widened. For a moment he was processing the news that he just got from Yuta until his lips curled up into a wide smile.

“He’s giving us a new job!” Johnny spoke loudly as he opened his car door and threw himself to the driver seat.

[What do you mean new job?]

Yuta’s voice sounded confused and Johnny seemed not to care to explain further more since he got too excited as he turned on the car engine.

Johnny knew it. He knew his boss would give up sooner or later.

 

oOo

 

It was 11 p.m when Johnny and Yuta got out of the black van, along with other older members near the old isolated port. Although still full of curiosity, Johnny positioned himself as the youngest member of the gang who always stood at the back. He turned to look at Yuta who had the same expression just like the others, so fierce yet aware on every little movement near them. If he had to compare with his own expression, it seemed Yuta had experienced this kind of situation before.

Johnny tucked his hands into the pockets on his black leather jacket as they’re making their way into the port. That place was pretty dark but not too dark since there were a plenty of lamps at some sides. There’s no one in there and the atmosphere around there was uncomfortable. Probably it because people barely went in nowadays. In simple words, this port was the perfect place to do unusual activity. And for tonight case, it’s something that Johnny and other members would do in ten more minutes.

These bunch of males in all black outifits stopped their tracks near the dock. Some of them spread further to check around while waited for someone or maybe some people who made an apointment with them here. Johnny and Yuta were still on their spot, not moving anywhere since the other members had warned them to do nothing yet kept being on guard for sudden unknown action.

“Hey, wanna explain something to me?” Yuta spoke in very low voice that it almost sounded like a whisper.

“What do you mean?” Johnny threw a question since he didn’t know what Yuta meant. He turned his head to the right and left side, randomly checking on everything he could see though his eyes only caught empty and dark there.

“About.... you visiting Boss’ room before he told about this,” Yuta replied as he also did the same thing too like Johnny, eyeing every side around them.

Johnny refused to answer and it’s enough to make Yuta pissed off.

“Yeah, of course you will keep it by yourself, Golden Boy.” Yuta narrowed his eyes.

Johnny only rolled his eyes. _Golden Boy_? Really? The urge to punch Yuta in the face was strong but he tried to hold it since they’re with other members. He wouldn’t do something stupid at this moment as he knew those older members would kick him out of this place, along with Yuta, for sure. But he’s sick of that damn nickname. For real. It had been haunting him since five years ago only because he’s the only member who seemed to be the closest with their Boss. All the members knew their boss treated him like his own child.

Yeah, Johnny wouldn’t deny it since it’s true after all. That’s why he acted like a rebel kid to him all this time.

“I was just.....” Johnny was about to explain everything to Yuta, but some weird sound like something dropped on the ground from his left side distracted his attention. He quickly turned his head to see towards the huge container box which was a bit far from him.

His instinct said there’s something—or probably someone—behind that huge box but he couldn’t tell what it was. He’s pretty sure he saw a little movement there from the corner of his eye before he turned his head towards that side. But when he wanted to check that dark area, Yuta grabbed his arm and pulled him closer that he almost tripped.

“They’re here,” Yuta whispered, gesturing Johnny to look at their front side. there’s a grey van which were approaching them slowly.

Johnny completely forgot what he’s about to do. His eyes focused on the grey van that stopped near them. He even notice some of the older members slowly put their hand behind their back. He could see a glimpse of black gun behind their jacket.

“Be ready,” Yuta whispered again for the last time before stepped ahead closer to one older member in front of them and talked something with him before nodded.

Johnny was completely nervous. It’s what he’d wanted to do, but he didn’t know the tension was this strong and weird. Moreover when five people came out of that van. Two of them holding a black box. It looked pretty heavy.

 

oOo

 

 

“This is the place that he said?” Sicheng asked as he pointed at the port which was not too far away from them.

Jaehyun nodded hesitantly. “Yeah. I think. If he gave us the wrong address, I swear to God, I’ll punch him,” Jaehyun said, checking his phone.

“Doyoung has weird taste about dark place,” Sicheng murmured. Only looking at that place from afar, he’s already frigtened.

“Doyoung? I thought it was you,” Jaehyun snorted and laughed after getting a light punch on his arm. “He just gave what you want.”

“I was.... I said I want to try staying in the place that—“

“You said you wanna try to stay in the dark place for ten minutes to challenge yourself. When he offered you to sleep in your own room in the night with all the lights off, you refused to do that since it’s not that challenging. You needed the strange place and yo—“

“Okay, you’re right. Stop mocking me,” Sicheng cut off curtly as he tried to reach Jaehyun’s head so that he could hit it, but suddenly he pulled Jaehyun towards him and dragged him away from the street to hide behind the tree near him.

Actually Jaehyun was about to ask why suddenly Sicheng dragged him like that, but then he pressed his lips after he saw a black van passing by. That van seemed to go towards the port. He looked at Sicheng who looked him back with full of questions on his face.

“Who are they? What are they doing at that place? Doyoung said that port is kinda isolated though. Are they criminal or what?” Sicheng was back to his previous spot, watching the black van that slowly entering the port. “Jaehyun, let’s…”

“No. Let’s just go home. We don’t know who they are and we aren’t even sure either if they’re good people or not. I didn’t lie to my mom that I’ll be accompanying you again tonight to let you do something stupid again,” Jaehyun interrupted with his long nag but got a grip around his wrist from Sicheng who didn’t even listen to him.

“Save whatever you wanna say for later. I don’t know what it is, but I feel something odd in there.”

That’s the only Sicheng said before dragging Jaehyun towards the port to see what’s happening in there since that black van looked so mysterious. Jaehyun exhaled quietly as he let Sicheng drag him. He knew he would waste time if he had to refuse him and force him to go home because Sicheng was the type of stubborn boy who would do anything he wants.

But the funny thing was Sicheng ended up being the one who walked behind Jaehyun after pushing him to enter the port stealthily and it’s all because the port looked pretty dark. Jaehyun could feel the grip around his wrist always tightened every time they heard a strange noise behind them.

“Sicheng…”

“Nope. I don’t wanna go home. You were gonna say that, right?”

“But…”

“They’re there.”

Sicheng moved his chin towards a bunch of men in black jacket near the dark dock. Only seeing them stood there and looked around with their hawk eyes could make Sicheng and Jaehyun feel scared.

“What are they doing?” Sicheng whispered, his free hand clutched the sleeve of Jaehyun’s jacket.

Although Jaehyun thought it’s not the right thing to sneak into the port only to see those strangers and maybe could drag them into danger, but he’s curious about them too. Therefore he pulled Sicheng closer to him and hid behind the huge container box near them. At least it’s the safest and the closest place to watch those people.

For almost 15 minutes, these high school boys were watching them silently until Sicheng slipped his hand into his bag to get his phone after he got an initiative. The stupid one.

“I’m gonna record them.”

Jaehyun immediately looked over his shoulder to Sicheng, his brows furrowed. “What?”

“I—“

_Brug!_

Both Sicheng and Jaehyun got surprised as Sicheng accidentally dropped his back on the ground. Jaehyun quickly pushed Sicheng and himself away from their current spot after he put Sicheng’s backpack. He noticed one of those people turned towards his way when Sicheng was being clumsy.

“We’re dead,” Sicheng’s voice sounded so shaky. He evenfroze standing against the huge container box behind them. His heart were beating so fast that it could jump out of his chest.

“Not yet before they notice we’re here,” Jaehyun replied. His gripped the straps of Sicheng’s backpack tightly. His state wasn’t much different from Sicheng. “Do you know how much I wanna punch you in the face right now?”

“You heard that? Another car is coming.” Sicheng’s fear immediately vanished after he heard the sound of car engine from the area of those people. He moved away from Jaehyun’s side and slowly went back to his previous spot with a phone in his hand. Carefully, he peeked out behind the container box to watch them, ready to record anything that he could see.

When Sicheng pressed the “record” button on his phone screen, he saw people who came out that grey van walk towards the people near black van with a heavy box. They were talking something that Sicheng couldn’t hear.

“Sicheng…..”

“Ssssh….”

Sicheng ignored Jaehyun who kept tapping his back so that he could finish whatever they’re doing since he felt it’s not right. His focus was completely on those people. A lot of questions was flooding his mind as he kept recording them. He even zoomed in his phone screen as one of those people opened the black box.

“Oh shit!” Sicheng suddenly shouted quietly and his eyes widened looking at his phone screen. There, some people started to put out something inside the box which turned out to be a firearm. Another guy did the same thing, checking some guns from the box carefully.

“J-jaehyun…..it’s…. it’s… criminal…”

Sicheng couldn’t finish his words because he’s so scared. Jaehyun himself already frightened beside him.

“We… we gotta get out of here, Sicheng,” Jaehyun tried to stop Sicheng from recording them.

This time, Sicheng agreed with him. After making sure he saved the video, he grabbed his backpack from Jaehyun’s hand and ran away from their place quietly. Jaehyun wouldn’t let his grip on Sicheng’s hand before they could get out of that port safely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the typos and error grammar. Hope you enjoy it, guys ^^


	3. You Already Held My Hand And Asked For A Help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder : You'll find tons of typos and errors, so bear with me

Sicheng was thinking of something that he shouldn’t see. It was too creepy that he couldn’t focus on anything he tried to do. And today wasn’t too different in which he looked a bit quieter. Usually he would yell at Kun and Doyoung when they started being  rowdy near him. But today... he didn’t even pay any attention to them. He just sat in his seat looking at his lunch.

He still had the video that he recorded that night and didn’t have any plan to delete it. But he couldn’t watch it because the fear always came to him every time he tried to open the file. He had been fighting with his own mind about it. He didn’t know what to do with that video although he clearly knew he just recorded something criminal.

More than that, he still remembered how he couldn’t breathe for a second after Jaehyun dragged him out of that port. Not only because he’s scared of the fact that he saw people doing illegal and criminal thing, but also realized he had let himself staying in dark place too long and the feels hit him so hard outside the port that Jaehyun had to hold and comfort him.

The fear was so real. Too real to deal with.

“Hey, Sicheng.” Doyoung knocked the table with his knuckles after noticing Sicheng’s silence. Kun and Jaehyun turned their heads towards Sicheng who raised his head to look at them one by one blankly.

“What?” Sicheng replied with another question which made Doyoung furrow his brows.

“You’re acting weird. Something’s happening?”

Sicheng only shook his head on Doyoung’s question. He ducked his head again staring at his lunch with his blank expression. “I ... I need to go to toilet. I’ll be back,” he said as he stood up and walked out of the school cafetaria.

“What’s wrong with him?” Doyoung murmured, looking at Sicheng’s back that slowly disappearing from his sight.

“Sick, maybe,” Kun added, looking a bit worry on Sicheng’s odd act. He noticed the black-haired boy had been so quiet lately. “You know something, Jaehyun?” He turned to Jaehyun.

“Did he fight with his Dad again? I mean not real fight, but... you know..., he and his Dad are not in a good term because his Dad keeps being busy with all the cops stuff. It makes sense if he’s like that. Poor boy,” Doyoung spoke first before Jaehyun could open his mouth to answer Kun.

Kun only sighed, secretly stealing a glance to Jaehyun who kept his mouth shut.

“If only his mom was still alive, he wouldn’t be this lonely. We’ve been together for three years and we’re already close to each other, but still... sometimes he makes himself getting left out for reason I don’t know,” Doyoung continued speaking.

When Jaehyun was about to respond, a sound of bell suddenly interupted him, forcing him to cancel anything he wanted to say. Probably, it’s not the right time to tell them about the truth. The turth why Sicheng was being so quiet.

“Guys, you can go to the class first,” Jaehyun said after reading a message from Sicheng. Quickly left Kun and Doyoung who stared each other, not knowing why suddenly Jaehyun was in a rush.

 

 

A male toilet seemed empty and quiet. The last student already came out when Jaehyun was in the doorway. He slowly entered that small room, scanning every corner that his eyes could reach to search Sicheng’s figure. His hand was pushing the toilet doors one by one while he focused his ear to hear any sound.

“Sicheng,” he called Sicheng after he saw none inside the third toilet. When he’s about to push the door next to him, he heard a weak exhaling breath sound from inside that toilet. He furrowed his brows as he pushed the door. There’s Sicheng sitting on the closed closet, resting his elbows on his laps and ducking his head very low. Both hands covering his face.

That boy wasn’t okay.

“Hey,” Jaehyun tried to call Sicheng as he leaned his back against the toilet wall. “You okay?”

“I just threw up,” Sicheng replied with his weak voice after removing his hands from his face. “I feel sick.”

“Need to go to resting room?”

Sicheng sighed and straightened his back, leaning his back against the closet and looking at Jaehyun with those tired eyes. He didn’t say anything and just stared at him.

“Is it about that video?”

Sicheng shrugged. “I don’t know anymore if it’s about that video or not.”

Jaehyun knew this situation would hit Sicheng since that’s his first time seeing something criminal with his own eyes. But he didn’t know Sicheng would be down like this. Or maybe ... Sicheng got bothered by something else?

“Let me—“ Sicheng couldn’t finish his words because suddenly he felt the pain hit his stomach and his lungs again. He let himself fall off the closet and turned around to open it so that he could throw up again. His grip on the edge of closet was so thight as he felt someone rub his nape softly.

“I’ll take you to the resting room,” Jaehyun spoke, hand patting Sicheng’s back several times. He let Sicheng finish throwing up silently despite the concern on his face.

“I’m ... I’m fine. I’m fine ....” Sicheng weakly sat on the floor after pulling himself away from the closet. He leaned his body against Jaehyun’s arm.

“Get up.” Jaehyun pushed Sicheng’s back harshly for a little. “I should’ve warned you harder that night so you wouldn’t be like this.”

“It’s not the right time to rant at me, Jung Jaehyun.” Sicheng grabbed Jaehyun’s hand and got pulled up. His feet somehow felt so heavy when he tried to move them. They slightly looked trembling for no reason and Jaehyun noticed it.

“You’re really like a mess today,” Jaehyun mumbled, putting his arm on Sicheng’s shoulders and help him walking out of the toilet.

“Thank you for the compliment,” Sicheng retort weakly.

 

oOo

 

Yuta rolled his eyes seeing Johnny walking around inside their small apartment, as if he was collecting some stuff. He got bothered by him for sure. They just came back from sending a “ _parcel_ ” a few days ago and now Johnny already got ready to go somewhere again.

“Without me this time?” Yuta asked, putting his both legs onto the dinning table.

“You guessed it right,” Johnny replied without looking at him a bit.

Getting that kind of answer within two second forced Yuta to sigh loudly. Johnny was always like that. Always acting like he didn’t care at all about everything around him, including his best friend who almost threw a glass of coffee to him because of his careless reply.

“Bring back my Johnny. You killed him. You destroyed my friend. Now I don’t know who you are,” Yuta cried out, making a sad face that hopefully Johnny, at least, could see it though it was pretty disgusting.

“You overdoing it,” Johnny only mumbled as he put a black gun inside his black jacket and Yuta noticed it.

“You never brought it before. What are you gonna do? No, I mean, where are you going to? Killing someone? Dude, you—“

“They said I have to bring one to protect myself,” Johnny cut off, feeling annoyed at Yuta who seemed can’t stop talking.

“Aaaah ... I remember now. Last time you almost got killed because you dumbly left us. Did you have to run like that when the buyer showing off their guns? They didn’t even pull the trigger and you ran like a kid. If I wasn’t there and saved your ass, maybe you—“

“Okay, thank you for saving my life. I owe you nothing. Gotta go.”

That’s the only thing Johnny said before leaving. He even still heard Yuta’s growl cursing him through the apartment door he just closed.

Yeah, tonight he got another thing to do with some older members again. Or he could call it as a _job_ , to be exact. He should be so thankful to his boss at this time since he’s getting busier and busier than before. But once again, he barely saw him around. His boss always had reasons not to be in his room.

Johnny was curious.

Curious about what his boss did. Curious about where his boss went.

Basically, he’s always curious about everything.

And his curiousness continued when he had arrived at the unknown place. Of course, it’s _unknown place_ , at least for him. He never knew what kind of place he went to with the members. They always kept their mouths shut, as if they’re not allowed to tell him about anything.

Well, he couldn’t ask or do more than obeying whatever they said to him. He didn’t want them pushing him away from these _jobs_.

“Johnny, go to the back,” One of the older men whispered to him.

Without saying anything, Johnny stepped back. His tall figure, or even absolutely the tallest among them, made everyone in front him look awkwardly small. It’s useless if he had to hide behind them for some reason.

While waiting for the buyer or whoever it would be, Johnny let himself scanning everything around him carefully. He was in front of the huge empty building. Pretty sure, that building wasn’t far away from downtown although he could barely see people, except those older men who came with him.

But when Johnny was about to look up at the building, there’s a sound of car from afar.

“They’re here.”

Johnny cursed himself under his breath. It’s not his first time facing something like this, but still, he couldn’t keep his heart from beating so fast.

He was nervous.

He’s always nervous.

They didn’t need ten minutes to see a black car moving towards them in slow speed. Like the previous nights—which always got formed from waiting for the buyer, meeting with them, exchanging both a box of guns and money to each other without loosing caution, to leaving the place silently—they just wanted everything go well as they had planned before.

But no. An older guy in front of Johnny noticed something fishy when some people came out of the car. He suddenly shouted “They’re cops” as he pull out his gun behind his black coat, causing everyone shocked and did the same thing.

Johnny’s eyes widened as he saw all the older members pointed their guns to those people. His hands were trembling as he moved one of them to grab the gun behind his black jacket.

Johnny completely didn’t know why one of the members said that those people were cops. He wanted to ask, but the tense among them was so intense that all of them might shoot their opponent once one of them pulled the trigger.

“Hey, put your guns down! You can’t go anywhere now! You’re all surrounded!” One of those people spoke loudly.

They’re cops. For real.

A black gun was already in Johnny’s hand but he couldn’t move it. His hands froze. He could feel that he would get killed here in any second. But before he finished his thoughts, a guy who was standing next to him already shot one of the cops.

“Guys, run!”

Johnny got dragged by the guy who shot one of the cops and almost tripped over his own feet. He ducked his head as he ran although his ears kept hearing the sound of gunshots behind him.

“Get inside!” That guy told Johnny to get into the car after they found their car.

“But what about the others?” Johnny stopped near the car.

“They can save themselves. You—“ That guy fell down to the ground before he could finish his words, causing Johnny got shocked and slumped against their car.

He saw him get shot by one of the cops who was running after them.

He saw him bleeding.

He saw him dying on the ground.

All he could do was only freezing, not knowing what to do.

The shouts of other members and the sounds of gunshots ... He still could hear them all which forced him to get frigthened. Really, he had never been in this kind of situation in his entire life. He had never heard those gunshots directly.

“J-j-just ... go, Johnny. Get ... out of ... here.” That guy threw the car key at Johnny before pressing the bleeding gunshot wound on his neck and groaning in pain.

Johnny ..., he was still sitting on the ground leaning his back against the car. His eyes were staring at that car key near his legs for  a moment before he moved his shaking hand picking it up.

Quickly, he stood up despite his legs were still trembling and walked over to that guy who was lying on the ground. But he stopped as he realized that guy wasn’t moving at all.

“ _H-hyung_?”

He hesitantly tried to check the pulse on that guy’s neck, hoping he could find it there. But no, he couldn’t. His hand only felt a cold skin.

That guy already died before he could manage to save him.

‘ _J-j-just ... go, Johnny. Get ... out of ... here_.’

The last remark from that guy hit his mind. Yes, he had to get out of here to save himself. But when he’s about to turn around, a tall police who had been there shouted at him to stay on his spot while pointed the weapon at him. All he thought was getting himself away from here as soon as possible. He even ignored that police’s order to put his hands up.

Counting down in his mind, he opened the car door. However, he’s forced to whimper painfully as he noticed his arm get shot by that police. Ignoring how painful his arm was, he trew himself into the driver’s seat and slammed the car door.

“Fuck!” He drove that car in the high speed that he almost hit that police who kept shooting his car.

For a moment, he thought he’s already save from them until he saw two police cars which weren’t far away from him.

“Where should I go?”

Johnny knew that was stupid question. But honestly, he couldn’t think straight at this moment. His arm was bleeding badly and he’s pretty sure he could pass out in any second since his head started to feel so heavy. He couldn’t even move his arm very much.

_You need to stay awake, Johnny. Stay awake. Stay awake._

He kept telling himself as he tried to speed up the car. Those police cars were still twenty meters away from him which meant he’s not safe yet. He needed something to distract them, at least to make a pretty huge gap.

“A brigde?”

His blurry eyes saw something like bridge at the front. A small one. Actually, he had an idea about it, but he doubted it would work because he could kill himself if he did it. Yeah, he just needed to bring his car to the bridge and crashed it into the river.

Ridiculous plan. Indeed.

“You’re such an idiot, you know that?” he murmured as he gave more speed until he reached the bridge and made a manuver towards the left side of the bridge. His car flew down to the river and crashed into the water.

 

oOo

 

Sicheng closed the taxi’s door slowly as all his attention was drawn to his phone’s screen which was displaying a message from Kun. Not an important message, just some reminder that he’s the only student from their class who had not given a fund yet for their school’s  charity event. If he didn’t give it tomorrow morning, Kun would steal his wallet and take all his money. Busy replying Kun’s message, he didn’t even realized that the taxi was already gone, leaving him alone in this empty alley.

A soft giggle slipped out of his mouth seeing Jaehyun’s name pop out on the screen. He’s trying to call him.

“Hmm? What?”

[I can’t accompany you tonight.]

“Yeah, you’ve said it ten times this morning. And fifteen minutes ago,” Sicheng chuckled, tucking his other hand into the pocket of his jacket while walking trough the street.

[Don’t tell me you haven’t arrived at your home yet. Did you ask the taxi’s driver to drop you near the bridge?]

Suddenly Sicheng stopped his tracks and looked around. There’s no one he could see in the street. “How do you know— wait, where are you?”

[Home, of course. Why? You think I’m stalking you and hiding somewhere behind you? Now, I’m a stalker? Woah, are you kidding me?]

Sicheng only snorted. His attention was a little distracted by the sound of sirens from two police cars which just passed by. Apparently, those polices were on patrol or something like that, he guessed. It’s weird since it’s the first time for Sicheng seeing police’s car around here.

“I’ll hang up. You know what, honestly ... I’m already bored seeing you around me all day. And now ... hearing your voice again ... I don’t know anymore,” Sicheng joked. There’s smile on his lips as he saw the gate of his house.

[Huh, bored? Okay then. Don’t ever try to ask or beg me when you’re scared of something and need someone to accompany you after this.]

Sicheng laughed on Jaehyun’s retort,” Good night, Jaehyun.”

All he heard was Jaehyun’s crazy laughter before he hung up. Sometimes ... Jaehyun acted like that. But he knew, Jaehyun was always be there first whenever he needed someone to lean on. It’s not like he’s discrediting Kun or Doyoung. They’re also his best friends, but Jaehyun knew him well. Even better than those two. There’s one reason he couldn’t even explain to himself about it. He just ... felt comfortable when he’s with Jaehyun.

“Guess who’s gonna spend a whole night alone again,” he murmured after he pushed the gate a little bit hard to get in and sighed knowing what the answer was while closing the gate back and locked it.

A chance to see his dad’s face was yesterday and world already knew his dad would be gone again the next day. Always like that.

“It would be better if I don’t have—“

_Brug~_

His grunts  got cut off as suddenly his feet tripped over something on the ground. He couldn’t do anything but falling down. His nose landed first that he hissed painfully. When he turned around to look at what just made him fall down like that, he couldn’t believe in his own eyes. He even rubbed his eyes to clear his sight. He thought he’s seeing something wrong.

There was ... a body. A male’s body which was lying on the ground, showing his back to him.

Sicheng’s heart started to beat fast, faster than when he’s trapped in the dark room. Did he just trip over dead male’s body? And why was there a dead male’s body at his front yard? How?

Many questions were flooding his mind when he stood up and approaced that male’s body. Tall figure, dark hair and it looked damp. Black ripped jeans, black T-shirt and black leather jacket, all of them were drenched, as if that male just came out of the water or was running around in the rain before somehow ended up lying down here.

Sicheng moved his shaking hand touching that male’s arm and got startled by his own action. Hesitantly, he pushed that male’s arm a bit so he could see his face. Once he managed to make that male lying on his back and compeletely see his face, he gaped for a second.

Pale. So pale that people could think he’s a vampire (or at least that’s Sicheng’s first impression). His forehead was covered by blood and sweat. His left hand too. It seemed he just got involved an accident and injured so bad like this.

“Why is he here? How did he get in here? And who is he though? What should I do now, huh?” Sicheng questioned himself, eyes obversing that male’s face but then getting surprised. “Wait a second.”

That male’s face was kind of familiar to him. Like ... he’d seen him before but he couldn’t recall the time. And he really took at least two minutes to try remembering his face until he blinked his eyes several times. He remembered him now.

“That scary _hyungnim_ in black jacket!” he squealed in his palm. Yes, he knew him. He met him in the small convenience store near his school for once. He even bought him a beer when he saw him struggle in front of the cashier.

Yeah, that’s Johnny if only someone could tell Sicheng his name.

Well, he might be not that smart at memorizing almost all the school subjects, but he’s pretty good at memorizing people around him. Kind of.

“Is he dead?” That question just slipped out of his mouth and made him frightened.

The only thing he had to do to make sure Johnny’s still alive or already dead was checking a pulse on his neck or on his wrist. Or placing your palm on his chest so you could feel the heartbeat.

“I don’t know how he got in here and I don’t know who he is, but please, don’t die and ….,” he paused his words as he brought his hand closer to Johnny’s neck hesitantly. The first thing he felt when he touched Johnny’s neck was cold skin. It was so cold that almost made him jump.

Okay, he couldn’t feel the pulse since he’s busy being shocked on Johnny’s cold skin. He had to touch it again. But when his hand was an inch away from Johnny’s neck, suddenly a cold hand gripped his wrist tightly.

Sicheng screamed loudly. His eyes widened seeing Johnny who he thought already died abruptly moved gripping his wrist like that. Every time he tried to release his hand, Johnny’s grip somehow felt tighter and tighter.

“H-h-help … me ….”

Sicheng froze on his spot after he heard Johnny’s weak voice. His eyes were completely fixed on Johnny.

“W-what? H-help you? O-okay … wait. Wait … You’re hurt … so … h-hospital. Yes, hospital.  We have … we have to go to hospital. I have to take you there and—aakh!” Sicheng squealed because Johnny tightened his grip again.

“D-don’t. Don’t go there.”

“Why? Why you don’t wanna go there, I—“

“I hate that place. It ...it makes me scared.”

Sicheng stunned. He felt something stab his chest right away after hearing Johnny’s words. This guy who’s dying just said that he hated hospital because it made him scared? When Sicheng thought he’s the only one who really didn’t like place like hospital because that place always gave him that uneasy feeling and fear. But tonight he just discovered, there’s other person who had the same feeling too.

Johnny who was trying to keep himself conscious squeezed Sicheng’s wrist. His entire body felt so cold to the bone and stiff. And hurt so much. He couldn’t even breathe properly as if all the air just knocked out of his lungs.

“C-cold. I … feel cold.”

Sicheng got panicked as he felt Johnny loosen the grip around his wrist and saw his eyes closed slowly.

“Wait! Wait! Wait! No! Please, stay awake! Stay with me! Stay awake! Shit! What—what should I do? Sicheng, think! _H-hyungnim_ , come on! Please, stay awake!” He shook Johnny’s arm frantically for several times and held Johnny’s hand instead.

He freaked out.

“Phone! I need my phone!”

He dropped his bag to the ground and opened it, hurriedly fishing out anything he could reach until he got his phone. He directly went to his _fast dial_ number which turned out to be ….

[Now what?]

Thank God, his phone directly got answered within three seconds.

“J-jaehyun, can you come over?” He asked Jaehyun with his shaking voice.

[You’re ruining my dinner.]

“I’m serious.” He’s repeatedly checking the pulse on Johnny’s wrist.

[You think I’m not?]

“Jaehyun, someone is dying here.”

[Yeah, it sounds like you. You are dying there because I’m not there with you. Punch me if I’m wrong.]

Tears unexpectedly started to fall down on his cheeks. He’s scared to the death and all he wanted was Jaehyun to come over and save him from this weird and scary situation. But Jaehyun didn’t even stop joking around.

“J-jaehyun ....”

[Hey, you crying? Did all the light inside your house go off? Take a deep breath, Sicheng. You—]

 “I haven’t even gotten into my house yet! God damn it, Jung Jaehyun!” Sicheng cried out frustratingly.

[What?! Where are you?!]

Now, Jaehyun’s voice sounded so worry.

 “I’m—I’m still at the front yard. Jaehyun, please can you come over quickly? I’m holding a dying person’s hand right now. He could die anytime soon. I already thought he’s dead and I almost had heart attack when he suddenly woke up. So, please come here and help me. I’ll tell you a whole thing later. But please you have to—“

[Okay, Sicheng. Calm down. Calm down. Don’t panic. I’ll be there very soon. I say, don’t panic.]

Jaehyun hung up the phone.

 

oOo

 

Jaehyun ran into Sicheng’s house. Honestly, to go here wasn’t even easy for him since his house was pretty far from Sicheng’s and he had to wait the perfect time to sneak out of his house.

Plus, the gate in front of Sicheng’s house.

It’s strange. The front door was already opened and when he entered, Sicheng was nowhere to be found. The house was quite huge and had too many corners, so he had hard time to find Sicheng although the light in every corner in this house is so bright. Even too bright. Yet,  he couldn’t find him anywhere, including inside his room.

“Sicheng!” Jaehyun shouted Sicheng’s name as he walked over to the other guest room which he hadn’t checked yet.

Jaehyun froze after he opened that door. There, inside the second guest room, Sicheng was standing near the bed, watching someone who was lying on the bed.

Hearing Jaehyun’s voice, Sicheng slowly turned his head. Once he saw his best friend’s face, he broke down to the floor, loosing his balance all of sudden. All the fear that he had been holding for almost an hour while doctor was taking care of Johnny ..., he couldn’t hold it anymore. It burst out that he didn’t know how to breathe properly.

“Why ... why ... you ... haaah .... I hate you, Jung Jaehyun,” Sicheng complained weakly as he held his chest. He could feel his heart beating so fast.

“You okay?” Jaehyun approached Sicheng and help him to get up. He shocked noticing how messy Sicheng was. That boy was still wearing his uniform and it looked so dirty and there’s some blood on it. “Sicheng ....”

“He’s alive. For now. At least, he’s still alive,” Sicheng said, eyes looking at Johnny who was still unconscious.

Jaehyun turned his head towards the bed. His brows furrowed. “Who is he? Is he ... that _someone_?”

“He said he hates hospital. That’s why I called doctor.” Sicheng dropped on the edge of the bed, rubbing his tired face. “How did you get in? I locked the gate and ....”

“Well, I’m a good climber, remember? And the gate is not that high.”

Sicheng snorted weakly on Jaehyun’s reply.

“So, what now? You owe me about this whole thing.” Jaehyun scanned Johnny from head to toe which was almost covered by warm thick blanket. There’s bandage around Johnny’s head and some scratches on his cheek bone.

“I’ll tell you everything tomorrow. But before that, promise me, you won’t tell anyone about this.” Sicheng held Jaehyun’s arm and led him out of the room so that Johnny could take a rest.

“What?” Jaehyun pushed Sicheng’s hand away from his arm after they’re out of the room. “Are you crazy, Dong Sicheng? He’s a stranger. You see how his injuries are, right? What if he’s a bad man and—“

“I knew you would say something like that. It’s complicated. I don’t who he is either.  Just let it be like this for a while, okay? He got injured and almost died if I didn’t call doctor. Wait ‘till he wakes up. I’ll ask him.”

Jaehyun stared at Sicheng with those disbelieve eyes. “Are you gonna let that stranger stay in your house? I think you need to go shower first, clean your body and your mind.”

Sicheng rolled his eyes. “Look. It’s not like I’m letting a bad man or a problematic man or a psycho to stay in my house. He’s sick. He needs some help. Oh, yeah, you didn’t see how he said it to me.”

“Some bad people were trying to kill him and he was hiding behind that gate to avoid them,” Sicheng continued.

That’s a lie. A big lie that Sicheng had ever said. Especially to Jaehyun.

But he had to.

There’s someone inside his mind telling him to help Johny although he didn’t know him.

Johnny really needed a _help_ from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Torn between Johnwin and Jaewin


	4. Talking to You is A Nice Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Too lazy to edit everything, so I'm sorry for tons of grammatical errors

It was warm.

Comfortable.

And there’s  a scent of lavender.

Those three things welcomed Johnny who was trying to open his eyes. He couldn’t see anything clearly because his sight was still blurry. As if not losing the rhythm, a headache also did the same thing, even stronger. Johnny had to close his eyes immediately and held his head which led him to get surprised as he noticed there’s a head bandage on his head.

The suffer didn’t stop there. When he moved his left arm for a bit, he felt the pain that the tears almost made his blurry eyes get worse.

And that was the one that made him completely awake. His eyes wandered, looking at the ceiling and his surroundings, feeling strange with the place. One question in his mind : _Where’s he now?_

He took more than thirty seconds only to get up. Staring down at the blanket that covered his thighs, he tried to recall what’s happening to him before he ended up being in this warm bed. When he finally could remember everything, he sighed and brushed his hair frustratingly.

All those moments were replaying in his mind. A moment when he tried to run away from the cops after he saw one of the older members died because of gunshot. A moment when he crashed the car he was driving into the river and swam as fast as he could to hide under the bridge so the cops which were chasing him couldn’t find him. A moment he dragged his feet out of the river and tried ignoring how painful his entire body was until he found himself climbing up the gate he saw randomly, of course to hide himself from them, but ended up falling down to the ground as he felt so exhausted and about to die.

The last thing he could recall before everything turned into dark and cold was only when he asked someone who touched his neck for a help.

“Stupid.” He touched the head bandage on forehead.

Now, he was in the someone’s room. He’s even wearing a pair of training clothes which might belong to them. He cursed himself in seeing his messy condition.

“Aaakh ....”

Once he stepped down from the bed and his feet touched the cold floor, he felt the pain on his left arm again. Even he almost fell down if he didn’t hold the edge of nightstand tightly and tried to make himself steady for a second before he started to walk.

He’s slightly startled seeing the door was opened. A tall figure of black-haired boy in school uniform appeared in the doorway. That boy seemed to get surprised too.

“Oh, you woke up!” Sicheng shouted and rushed into the room, holding Johnny’s right arm after he approached him.

Of course, Sicheng’s sudden action made Johnny stumbled since he couldn’t stand still properly. Luckily, Sicheng held his waist first.

“I’m sorry for surprising you, but how’s your feeling? Why are you standing like this? Are you gonna go to somewhere? You need a bathroom?” Sicheng practically gave so many questions to Johnny because he had been worrying him since last night.

Johnny felt quite uncomfortable on how Sicheng stared at him and how close Sicheng’s face was. He wanted to answer, he wanted to tell Sicheng to pull his face away from his and to pull his hand away from his waist, but only a painful groan that came out of his mouth.

“Sit down. Sit down.” Sicheng helped Johnny to get back to the bed. His hand was still on Johnny’s arm when he seated Johnny to the edge of the bed carefully.

Johnny couldn’t do much but let Sicheng help him.

“I … I’ll bring your breakfast here. Wait a minute.”

Sicheng walked out of the room in a flash speed and came back with a bowl of porridge and a glass of water. He carefully put them onto the nightstand and dragged the chair near him and sat down, slightly moving it closer to Johnny.

“I made it by myself. I mean that porridge. Wait, actually ... I asked the Aunt Kim, our housemaid, to make it for me before she left and ....” Sicheng paused his words as he noticed Johnny was looking at him with that deadpan face. Awkward, a little. Especially when Johnny’s eyes looked like he’s judging him silently because he talked too much. “Uhmm ... so ....,” Sicheng cleared his throat.

“We’ve met before. Do you ... remember me?” Sicheng continued, trying to talk to Johnny.

Johnny’s eyes were still fixed on Sicheng. Actually, he didn’t know how to answer. _Remember him_? If Johnny had to be honest, he never let himself to be with people (or with strangers, to be exact) for a long time. He couldn’t socialize with people. And his memory was pretty bad at remembering people he had bumped into randomly.

So, yeah ..., he didn’t remember Sicheng at all.

“I guess you don’t remember me. Okay, it’s fine,” Sicheng murmured to himself after he din’t get any response. The atmosphere was getting more awkward since Johnny didn’t open his mouth at all to say something.

“Name!”

Johnny almost jumped as Sicheng suddenly shouted.

“I’m sure you have a name, right?e So ... who’s your name? I’m Si—“ Sicheng stopped. There’s a hesitation when he’s about to tell his name to Johnny. “Winwin. My name is Winwin. Weird name, I know. But all my friends call me with that name. My parents, too,” he continued. “ _Hyungnim_ ..., what’s your name?” He secretly shifted the front side of his jacket so it could cover his nametag on his uniform. He only wished Johnny didn’t see it.

There’s a odd silence between them for a moment before Johnny, finally, opened his mouth, telling his name.

“Youngho.”

Sicheng telling his nickname instead of his real name to Johnny was because Sicheng tried to protect himself. He and Johnny were both strangers to each other after all and Sicheng knew too well not to let a stranger know more about his personal life.

But for Johnny who surprisingly told his real name to Sicheng ..., he didn’t even know why he picked that name since he never told anyone about his real name before.

“Youngho? So, your name is Youngho? Sounds nice. Nice to meet you, Youngho ... _Hyungnim_.” There’s a doubt when he added that “ _Hyungnim_ ” part. The fact that Johnny was older than him gave him a right to call like that though. “Let me take care of you since doctor said you need to take a full rest to recover. And ... you’re not allowed to move too much.”

oOo

Leaving Johnny alone in his huge and empty house was pretty risky decision that Sicheng ever made. And he almost didn’t want to go to school if Johnny didn’t force him and told him that he wouldn’t do anything and go anywhere but lying down on the bed for a whole day, or at least until he went back from school.

At first, Sicheng couldn’t trust Johnny’s words. But after he noticed how Johnny was having a hard time only to pull his both legs to the bed and lie down on his back, he told himself to believe him. Moreover, he had the elder’s phone. Short story, he found it when he was putting Johnny’s wet and dirty clothes into the washing machine and hid it in his room.

“You changed your phone?”

Doyoung’s voice broke his silence as he’s staring at the dead phone in his hand. He looked up at Doyoung who was standing near his desk and asked innocently, “What phone?”

Doyoung pointed at the phone in Sicheng’s hand. “And the screen is already like that? You bought it only to crash it against something?”

Sicheng now looked down at the phone and realized that there were some scratches around the screen. Yeah, that’s Johnny’s phone. “I ....,” he hung his words as he saw Jaehyun stepped into the class and seemed to avoid any eye contact with him.

“What are you doing here? Move, please,” Jaehyun spoke to Doyoung with his low voice as he pushed Doyoung away and smiled at the end which made Doyoung almost tackle him down because it looked like he’s angry at him.

Sicheng’s eyes didn’t look away from Jaehyun who sat beside him and casually pull some books out of his backpack. He wanted to talk with him, but Jaehyun seemed not too care enough to turn his head towards him and give a little smile like he used to do.

It’s not over yet. Jaehyun kept acting weird until Sicheng couldn’t hold anymore. He gripped Jaehyun’s hand and dragged him out when they finished their lunch.

“You’ve been ignoring me for too long, Jung Jaehyun!” Sicheng snapped after cornering Jaehyun near the empty computer Lab. “Did I do something wrong to you? Don’t act like I’m a ghost!”

Jaehyun didn’t say anything, he crossed his arms and looked away.

“Jaehyun ....”

“Is that guy still in your house?” Finally Jaehyun spoke although he didn’t look at Sicheng.

Sicheng’s brows furrowed. For a moment, he’s trying to figure out what Jaehyun just said.

“That guy? You mean ..., Youngho?” Sicheng, puzzled, tried to guess.

“Huh, you even got the name already, too. Cool,” Jaehyun replied sarcastically and smiled bitterly.

For a moment, Sicheng was figuring out where this conversation were going to go and when he got it, he let the relief sigh silently. He smiled and gave a light punch on Jaehyun’s arm.

“You scared me, you know that?” Sicheng giggled as he leaned against the wall beside him. “Thank you for worrying me, Mr. Jung Jaehyun.”

“Is it something we can laugh at? You’re freaking hiding some giant stranger inside your house! Dong Sicheng, are you out of your mind? That guy could attack you anytime,” Jaehyun said in serious tone.

“Well, literally ..., he couldn’t move. Last time I saw, he almost fell down when he tried to stand. So for now ..., I think I’m save. And did you just say _some giant stranger_? Seriously, Jaehyun? You think you’re not? I mean the _giant_ part. You’re one of the giants club in our class,” Sicheng tried to make other topic. He’s pretty sure Jaehyun’s mood would turn into worse state if they kept talking about Johnny.

“Can you just send him to hospital and let doctor and nurses to take care of him instead? You can barely take care of yourself and now you’re doing it to a stranger? Sicheng, listen to me—“

“No, you listen to me. I’m fine and I’ll always be. He’s a good guy. And he’s currently sick though, so he isn’t in a good condition to attack anyone. Unless he has a secret power like a X-Men’s mutan. You know, healing power or something like that,” Sicheng cut off and patted Jaehyun’s upper arm before pulled him to walk. “Now we’re cool? Hm?”

Jaehyun only rolled his eyes and started walking.

“Eeeeei, come on, Jaehyun. Don’t be like this. Say something or I’ll be clinging to you for the rest of the day.” Sicheng put his arm around Jaehyun’s shoulders and poked Jaehyun’s waist several times.

“Stop it or I will push you,” Jaehyun groaned under his breath.

“You won’t do it. We’re cool, right~? We’re still friends, right~? Best friends, hm~?” Sicheng whined like a kid and Jaehyun was about to push him for real before Doyoung and Kun showed up near the hallway.

“Hey, you two, Lame Lovebirds! We still have class after this and as I recall, one of you haven’t finished doing the essay that Mr. Bald gave to us last week. You don’t wanna kiss his  shinny bald, do you?” Doyoung shouted casually without worrying (or more like _without noticing_ ) there’s a teacher who passed by behind him and probably heard what he just said.

Sicheng who apparently remembered about that essay immediately pulled himself away from Jaehyun and ran over to his other best friends. His long arms dropped on Kun’s shoulders from the back.

“Kun, have I told you that you’re like my own brother that I adore the most?” Despite of his deep voice which sounded like a mature man, the way he talked was like a 7 years old kid.

Dong Sicheng ..., he _did_ it again.

“Not again, Dong Sicheng.” Kun let Sicheng backhug him yet still refused to get trapped by the boy’s trick which was so obvious.

“I’ll treat you delicious meal and I won’t let those two to go with us,” Sicheng still tried.

“You’re gonna give me new compliment now?” Kun played along.

Sicheng put his hands away and moved beside Kun. “Doyoung is not that smart if I have to compare him with you. And you always manage to finish all the homeworks before deadline so—“

“Skip that and tell me what you want,” Kun giggled over Sicheng’s puppy eyes.

“Can I borrow your book?” Sicheng grinned and blinked his eyes several times.

“That’s DISGUSTING!” Doyoung, who was witnessing how Sicheng’s clingy to Kun, shouted and made a face that he wanted to throw up.

Jaehyun snorted as he walked towards them and let Doyoung put his arm on his shoulder.

“Look at that kid. He’s acting like that because he wants something. He should’ve done it to me, but because he can’t fool me easily, Kun is always his next target. And how many times do I have to tell Kun to stop being soft to that little brat?” Doyoung grumbled when they’re walking trough the hallway.

“I guess you missed something,” Jaehyun said when the turned to the right side which would lead them to their class.

“Something?” Doyoung’s brows furrowed.

“He said you’re not that smart if he has to compare you with Kun. Or maybe ...easier sentence ..., _Kun is smarter than you in his eyes_ ,” Jaehyun replied heartlessly, as if he’s confident enough not to get any scream or hit from the skinny tall boy beside him.

“Oh, okay so—WHAT?!” Doyoung’s eyes widened. He turned to Sicheng and Kun who were walking a little bit further than them. “That little bastard. He’s dead! He’s dead! HEY, YOU, DONG SICHENG!”

Kun almost tripped over Doyoung’s shoes when he got pushed towards the wall pretty harshly by Doyoung who looked comically pissed off. Yet he didn’t do anything but laughing as Doyoung pretended to strangle Sicheng from the back.

“You okay?” Jaehyun questioned Kun after he noticed that black-haired boy kept rubbing his upper arm.

“I’m fine, just didn’t know he’s that strong,” Kun laughed, letting Jaehyun walked with him while the other two seemed busy re-enacting some kind of thriller movie’s scene in front of them.

There’s a moment of silence between these two until Kun broke it.

“Can I ask you something?”

Jaehyun only nodded as they stepped into the class. Since Doyoung had seated Sicheng next to him, Jaehyun grabbed Kun’s bag and placed it on his desk. His hand then threw Sicheng’s backpack towards Doyoung playfully, signaling Doyoung to keep the Chinese boy with him. Sicheng cried out, telling the world that being Doyoung’s seatmate was not a good thing because his life would be in danger. That’s obviously too dramatic and even worse as Doyoung played along.

“Is something really happening with Sicheng? Why do I feel he’s hiding something from us? Honestly, I’m worrying him since he always does something stupid out of the blue” Kun spoke in low-tone.

Jaehyun froze in his seat, staring at Doyoung and Sicheng’s backs in front of him.

“I’m just afraid if his stupidity will drag him into dangerous situation?” Kun continued, looking indeed concerned.

“Nothing, Kun. He’s fine,” Jaehyun replied in a low-tone too and sighed silently realizing what Kun said was right. Sicheng’s stupidity had dragged him into dangerous situation already and it’s all because of that stranger named Youngho or something.

Not wanting to think of Sicheng’s complicated state, Jaehyun did something playful to get rid off all the thoughts. He moved his leg under his desk and kicked Doyoung’s seat which caused the tall boy who was joking with Sicheng jolt in surprise and got a loud laugh from Sicheng.

oOo

It’s already 9 p.m and Sicheng cursed himself loudly after closing the gate behind him. He stormed into his house. There’s a sick person in his house and probably hadn’t eaten anything. Well, at this point, he wanted to blame those stupid friends who forced him to go to Han River together. At first, he still remembered Johnny until Doyoung decided to play basketball and he was so into the game that he totally forgot about him.

Exhaling a deep breath and slightly fixing hair, Sicheng opened the guest room’s door and found Johnny sitting on the bed against the headboard, turning his head towards him. Sicheng only could grinned as he approached him.

“ _Hyungnim_ , I’m sorry. I—“

“School stuff, I know,” Johnny cut off, nodding. He barely know anything about it, to be honest.

“I’ll go to my room and take a shower. Wait a minute, okay?”

Johnny nodded again and stared at the younger walking out of the room. _Wait a minute_. It’s noting if he had to compare how many hours he had spent being _trapped_ on this bed today. He couldn’t move his body too much and when going to bathroom inside this room was a must, he spent an hour only to shuffle in there. Not to mention the massive pain he felt every time he moved his feet and his arms.

So yeah, Johnny had enough.

“Let’s change your clothes first,” Sicheng said a second he’s back into the room. Another pair of training clothes were already in his hand.

“What? No, I ....”

“ _Hyungnim_ , you need to be clean. Recovery can be faster if you’re clean. Weird phase, I know. I got it from one of my seniors, anyway. His name is Lee Taeyong, I guess. But I don’t really remember him. So ... give me your hand.”

Sicheng offered his hands and the older looked at Sicheng and his hand back and forth with his confused look.

“You’re not thinking anything weird, are you? I’m not gonna ... you know ... that kind of thing. I’ll just help you to go to bathroom and let you do it on your own,” Sicheng tried to explain since Johnny kept staring at him with that unreadable look.

Well, it’s not like Johnny had the same thought like what Sicheng did. He just ... felt unfamiliar with this kind of situation. Getting a help from a stranger was a brand new for him. Once again, he didn’t socialize with people and this strange treatment caused him feel uneasy.

“Okay, giant baby,” Sicheng hummed as he took a sudden action, pulling Johnny’s right hand and placing his hand around his back. Johnny gasped as Sicheng pulled him up that he had to clutch the fabric of Sicheng’s sweater since he still couldn’t get up properly.

“Now _Hyungnim_ just have to walk slowly. Very slowly, okay?” Sicheng swung Johnny’s right arm around his shoulders and held his waist, moving his chin forward to send a signal that they could start walking.

Johnny’s walk was still limping like this afternoon when he went to bathroom alone. The difference was there’s someone who was holding him tightly now, making sure he didn’t fall although he took more than five seconds only to move one of his legs. He stole a glance down to the younger who kept murmuring that they just needed to walk super slowly over and over through their way.

Did people out there also have a kind heart like this boy? Did people out there also have no fear like this boy? They literally didn’t know each other yet this boy willingly helped and took care of him. He could’ve told him that he’s a bad guy, he’s one of the people out there who all they did was doing criminal things, but he had no courage.

It might be too soon if Johnny had to say this, but ... he felt warm in this house.

“I know you must be hurt so much, but _Hyungnim_ ..., you have to change your clothes and ...,” Sicheng paused his fifteen minutes-speech when he heard a knock sound from the bathroom door behind him. He turned around and opened the door, almost failed not to burst into laugh after looking at Johnny who already stood near the doorway. Apparently the training clothes seemed too small for Johnny, especially the pants which couldn’t even touch his ankles. The pants’s length only stopped ten centimeters above his ankles.

Sicheng had no right to blame Johnny’s height since those clothes weren’t his size. He mentally slapped his own face realizing the fact where Johnny’s taller than him. Of course, all his clothes wouldn’t totally fit for him. Unless he could grow taller in a day and bought new ones so he could let Johnny to wear them.

“I’m done,” Johnny finally spoke to stop whatever Sicheng’s thoughts. He just didn’t want to stay longer in bathroom, especially when his both legs slightly started trembling.

“Ok, sorry.”

Sicheng did the same thing to Johnny like before, helping him to walk back to the bed. Once he successfully placed Johnny onto the bed, he went out to get the first aid kit. Carefully he pull up the Johnny’s shirt sleeve to his upper arm and observe the bandage on his arm before removed it.

Johnny stared at Sicheng’s fingertips that kept making contact with his skin as the younger tried to clean the wound with alcohol liquid. He didn’t even notice what next liquid or cream or whatever it was that Sicheng applied on his wound that he slightly jolted because of the sudden pain. Sicheng let out an apologize several times as he carefully blew the air towards the wound as if he could lessen the pain.

“Now, it’s time to cover it back. _Hyungnim_ , please hold it a little bit,” Sicheng whispered, eyes focusing on his hands that placed the new and clean bandage to Johnny’s arm. He did the same thing to the bandage on Johnny’s forehead too.

Johnny sighed silently and rested his back against the dashboard. Once again his eyes were fixed on Sicheng’s face. It looked innocent. Too innocent. Those long and black eyelashes. That firm nose bridge. Those pink- _ish_ and plump lips.

Cute. Johnny couldn’t lie to himself that that boy was cute. He unknowingly put a little smile on his own lips. But when Sicheng pulled his face away, Johnny got flustered and looked away for a second.

“It’s done. How is it, _Hyungnim_? I know it isn’t even better than the doctor made, but I can tell ... it’s not bad.” Sicheng looked proud of himself, but a second later he showed his frowned face. “I don’t have any food in the kitchen and I’m a bad bad bad cook. A super bad cook. So, I think it’s useless to put those two eggs out of the fridge. The last time I had a physical contact with stove when I wanted to make fried rice, I almost burnt down my own kitchen. I’m telling the truth, anyway.”

Johnny couldn’t help but let out the small chuckle but he managed to keep his poker face. They way Sicheng told him that old story was funny for him. And he felt guilty when he realized Sicheng’s sad face. It might be hard for Sicheng.

“I’m not hungry,” Johnny said, getting surprised by himself when his voice sounded so hoarse.

“No!” Sicheng suddenly shouted. “You have to eat! Those medicines, you need them all to recover. Doctor said before I give you those pills, you have to eat first.”

Johnny pressed his lips.

“ _Take-out_?” Sicheng suggested, showing a phone to Johnny.

“What?” Johnny’s confused.

“Pizza? I really wanna eat it. And I think pizza isn’t bad for you. Cool?”

Before Johnny could answer, Sicheng already pressed the number and made a call.

They didn’t need much time to get a box of pizza. Sicheng placed it onto the bed, near Johnny, and asked the older to take it first. Johnny only obeyed what he asked for but his brows furrowed when Sicheng put one of cokes away from him.

“No coke for the next three days. For _Hyungnim_. That’s what doctor said to me after he told me your liver isn’t in good condition. I bet you ate too much junk foods and soft drinks. That’s why I ordered this pizza. This one is healthy. Look at these veggies topping. It’s like eating thin bread with leaves. By the way, I will order other pizza when you sleep. The one with many slices of meat. I’m joking,” Sicheng laughed and shoved another slice into his mouth.

The simple dinner was over but Sicheng was still in Johnny’s room. This boy decided to do his homework on the bed. All his books scattered everywhere, including on Johnny’s knees. Sicheng was on his stomach when looked so focus on the book. He tapped the edge of his pen against the notes and the sound was a little bit loud which caused Johnny to turn his head looking at him.

Johnny was still silent on his spot, just staring at the younger. He thought Sicheng was so serious doing his homework although in fact ... Sicheng kept furrowing his brows and shut his mouth because he didn’t know how to answer those questions.

Yeah, like Doyoung said : _Sicheng is handsome and cute boy, but his brain is not that handsome when it comes to school subjects._

“Winwin ....”

For the first time, Johnny finally said Sicheng’s “name”. But apparently the owner of that nickname didn’t hear him that he had to move his hand and tapped the book near Sicheng’s elbow to get his attention.

Sicheng immediately raised his head up looking at Johnny who just pulled his hand back to his lap.

“Yes, _Hyungnim_? Do you want something? You want to go to bathroom?” Sicheng was about to get up, but Johnny shook his head. “So, what’s going on?” He got back to his position.

“Eummm ... that ... you ... do you have problem with ... those things?” Johnny questioned hesitantly, pointing at the books.

Sicheng had to look down at the books and then smiled. “Yeah. But I’m not that stupid though,” He jokingly complained.

“I didn’t say you’re stupid,” Johnny muttered.

Feeling guilty after seeing Johnny’s facial expression, Sicheng showed a wide grin and said, “I’m joking, _Hyungnim_. Woah, you’re so easy to get fooled, aren’t you? Okay, I’ve learnt one new charm of you. You’re so innocent. Next time, don’t be like this, or else, bad people would use your charm to something bad. Am I talking too much again?”

Johnny only chuckled a bit and got a cute and wide smile from the younger. “Just ... finish them and go sleep soon. It’s almost midnight.” He glanced the clock that hung on the wall.

Yeah, it’s better for Johnny not to bother Sicheng as he couldn’t even help him doing his homeworks. He had no idea about school stuff though. As he recalled, the last time he wore school uniform was when he’s in junior high school. He got dropped out of his school after the school staff found him fighting against some students from other school and almost kill one of them. That’s all. Old story that never left any sweet feels.

“Let’s stop here. I can’t do this anymore. My head hurts so much.”

Sicheng’s frustration voice disturbed Johnny’s thoughts. He let a weak smile when he saw Sicheng dropped his head against the book and groaned.

“Good night, _Hyungnim_. Have a nice dream.” Sicheng waved his hand after putting all his books back into his backpack. He didn’t even forget to give a bow to Johnny and got off of the bed, shuffling his feet towards the door and disappearing from Johnny’s sight after closing the door.

“Good night, Winwin. And I don’t think I have a nice dream, but I’ll try to get one.”

Johnny didn’t know why he murmured those words. Maybe it’s Sicheng’s impact that had been accompanied him tonight. The younger’s presence surprisingly gave a small sweet and pastel colors in his mind that had been full of grey and dark. Still, he didn’t know why.

His hand reached out to the switch turning off the light. He sighed after the room went dark, like he usually saw in his own room in the night. Slowly lying down on his back, he pulled the blanket up to his chest and took a deep breath before he closed his eyes.

“It’s better like this,” he hummed, feeling how the darkness inside the room wrapping all his body and his mind like a real blanket. Yet, the image of smiley Sicheng was secretly sneaking into his mind with his shinny innocent eyes which slightly gave a little light from afar.

Meanwhile in Sicheng’s room, a very contrast difference was showing up. The light inside the room was shining so bright, even too bright. And Sicheng who was already lying down on the bed looked so serious with his phone. He was so into the game he’s playing until Jaehyun’s name popped out on the screen, causing the game stopped all of sudden.

“Checking me? I’m still alive and can breathe. Thank you,” Sicheng joked a second he received that call.

[Everyting’s fine?]

Hearing Jaehyun’s worry voice, Sicheng sighed. “This security seriously does too much stuff. Hey, I’m fine.”

[Okay, then. Good night.]

Sicheng’s brows furrowed. “That’s it? You calling me only to said that?”

Jaehyun hummed something unclear and laughed which made Sicheng pout his lips.

“Since you’re calling me, can you not hang up the phone and let it be like this?” Sicheng looked up at the ceiling, blinking every time his eyes met the light above him.

[My phone’s battery will be dead anytime soon.]

“Just until I fall asleep, please.”

[If something happens with my phone tomorrow, buy me the new one.]

Sicheng only chuckled as he pressed the “Speaker” button on the screen and placed it on the empty spot near his pillow. “New phone is nothing for me. You’re really too much, dude. How could you do that to your rich friend?”

[Yeah, it’s because you love me.]

“When love and new phone are the same thing in your eyes. Okay, it’s because I love you,” Sicheng yawned at his last words. His eyes started to feel heavy.

[But I love you more.]

“Whatever~”

[Keep the light in your room on, Sicheng. If it suddenly goes off, don’t panic. Press the flashlight button on your phone screen and get out. You can sleep in the living room or other room. And try to stay away from that Youngho guy in the night.]

Sicheng only hummed as the response because he already closed his eyes, dozing off. The bright of the light made him feel secure tonight, like all the nights before. And who needed a blanket when he had that bright light above him? But still, a deep down inside his mind, he looked for the way how to turn off the light without having any fear.

 


	5. The Different Warmth I Felt Tonight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friendly reminder : You'll always find tons of grammatical errors and weird words/sentences, so I'm sorry lol  
> too lazy to edit. I'll do it later

 “Let’s go camping!”

Doyoung’s words stopped his friends who were focusing on their lunch. All of them looked so puzzled, as if they didn’t expect he would say that.

“What? Camping?” Kun questioned, brows furrowed.

Doyoung nodded. “Yes, camping. You didn’t hear it wrong. _Camping_. Do I have to spell it for you? _c-a-m-p-i-n-g_.”

“I’m not that stupid,” Kun retorted.

Doyoung only grinned dryly before clasping his hands and bringing their attention back on the main topic. It seemed only Kun who paid a little attention to him when he decided to go camping on this weekend.

“You’re making a decision by yourself, like an usual. I’m gonna pretend to get surprised,” Kun murmured.

“It’s because you all ..., no, those two.” Doyoung pointed at Sicheng and Jaehyun who looked like they’re ignoring his presence in the cafeteria after they heard him mentioning _camping._ “... They’re ignoring me. So yeah, _the camping is on this weekend_!” Doyoung’s voice sounded a little bit higher on his last sentence as he leaned closer to the center of the round table.

“We’re not deaf,” Sicheng finally replied although he’s still busy enjoying his lunch.

“Oh, sorry. I was talking to Jaehyun, not you.” Doyoung replied a second later and it made Sicheng raised his head looking at Doyoung.

“What?”

“When I said _we_ , I meant me, Kun and Jaehyun. _We_. Three of us.”

Jaehyun who had been silent from the start furrowed his brows, putting his banana milk back on the table.

“Three of you? Only three? You’re leaving me? Woah, I can’t believe this. Are you betraying me? Did I do some mistake? If you say it’s just a joke, I won’t care, I’m still gonna be so mad at you,” Sicheng complained and only got a soft pat on his back from Jaehyun.

“We’ll be missing you this weekend, Cutie. Though I don’t know what kind of camping he’s talking about,” Jaehyun tried to be on Sicheng’s side but still got an annoyed glance from the boy.

Sicheng only hissed and grabbed his water bottle harshly. He felt his throat dry all of sudden.

“The camping this time will be so fancy, so expensive and one of a kind. No more fire camp or creepy owl’s sound, or even a tent,” Doyoung continued as he watched Sicheng who was still drinking his water.

“Are you sure that’s _camping_? I thought camping was—“

“The camping will be at Sicheng’s house,” Doyoung cut off Kun’s interuption.

Suddenly Sicheng chocked on his water, even he almost spurted his water over Jaehyun’s lunch if he didn’t cover his mouth with his palm immediately.

“Are you okay?” Jaehyun looked panicked as he rubbed Sicheng’s back and patted it several times, hoping it could stop Sicheng from coughing.

Sicheng only could waved his hand since he kept coughing. Well, Doyoung surprised him. Really surprised him. _Camping at his house? This weekend?_

“Give him water before he dies. So, here ..., I just saw a news about a murder case at Busan this morning. Apparently Sicheng’s Dad and his team were going there to investigate this morning. All the journalists said that all the investigation teams will be staying there until next week to do some things together. It means this cute little brat will be alone this weekend,” Doyoung explained without worrying Sicheng who was about to die in his seat.

Eventhough not showing a concerned face like how Sicheng was doing it now, Jaehyun also felt anxious. If this camping really happened in Sicheng’s house, Kun and Doyoung would meet Johnny there. And he couldn’t imagine how their reaction would be.

“Jaehyun, you better give him CPR too, look at him. He can’t breathe,” Doyoung said casually as he shoved a handful of corn chips into his big mouth.

Jaehyun rolled his eyes, looking so done with Doyoung. His hand took a bottle of water from Kun who just came back to their table. “Take a deep breath and release it slowly,” Jaehyun spoke to Sicheng softly, shifting his seat closer to Sicheng’s so he could take care of the poor boy properly.

Sicheng only nodded weakly. His shoulders were still shaking since he couldn’t stop coughing. His fist kept hitting his chest to lessen the cough but it only lasted for a few seconds because Jaehyun gripped his wrist and pull his hand away from his chest, stopping him from hitting his own chest.

“I told you to take a deep breath and release it slowly, not to hit your chest like that,” Jaehyun’s voice sounded so soft.

Watching the lame romance scene in front of him, Doyoung snorted and got a light punch on his arm from Kun who already settled back to his seat next to him.

“Just give him CPR already, Jung Jaehyun!” Doyoung shouted, ignoring Kun’s glare and kicking Jaehyun’s leg lightly under the table. “You seem so expert at that. Last time you gave it to Sicheng when we were on the beach, you looked like almost eating his mouth and—OUCH!” Doyoung cried out in pain after Kun punched his arm again.

Jaehyun chose to help Sicheng drinking the water instead of enjoying watching his friends bickering. He didn’t let his gaze away from Sicheng, making sure the boy could calm down. He caught Sicheng tilting his head and staring at him. The boys’ eyes were telling him that Doyoung’s decision about camping in his house was so wrong. At least that was what Jaehyun could read on Sicheng’s look. He only nodded and slightly patted Sicheng’s head, motioning that everything would be okay.

oOo

It had been ten minutes and Sicheng was still stirring his spoon around in the soup bowl. His fish-cake soup was already cold, anyway. And there’s no any sign from Sicheng that he would eat his dinner anytime soon. This dark-haired boy only ducked his head staring at his dinner blankly.

Johnny who was sitting across the dinning table and halfheartedly enjoying his porridge (he didn’t even understand why Sicheng kept giving him that tasteless meal though they both knew his condition went better than four days ago) finally noticed Sicheng’s odd act. It’s his first time seeing the boy like that. He wanted to ask him if everything’s okay but before he could open his mouth, the boy let out another silent heavy sigh again. Okay, _leave him alone like that_ was the only option in his mind. He’s just gonna finish his dinner quickly and got back to the room.

Too bad, the loud sound of his spoon hitting the bottom his his porridge bowl made Sicheng’s head turn to him.

“Sorry,” Johnny said and gave a little awkward smile to Sicheng.

Sicheng only stared at the older for a moment before looking down at his soup. Ah, he realized he had been silent for minutes. It’s all because of Doyoung! He was thinking of Doyoung and his stupid camping plan, forcing his brain to solve this problem.

“Something happened at your school?” Johnny finally asked after he decided to drop his spoon into his bowl, not wanting to continue eating the porridge.

“Not really,” Sicheng murmured.

It seemed the younger didn’t want to talk about something that was bothering his mind with him.

“Okay. I’ll ... I’ll ... take the medicines and—“

“I’ll do it, _Hyungnim_. You stay here.”

Johnny was about to stand up but Sicheng’s words made him settle back to his seat. The younger made a quick steps towards his room to get his medicines. He only sighed seeing the boy’s figure disappeared from his sight.

Johnny couldn’t feel more thankful to Sicheng for the past four days. That boy had been taking care of him so well, even too well, that he felt like a useless toddler. A little progress was showing up every day. If a few days ago he couldn’t even make himself stand properly for couple minutes or walk to bathroom inside his room by himself, now he could get out of his room without getting any help from Sicheng. Well, he still had to take a time to walk since his body had not fully recovered yet. All the wounds on his arm and his forehead were slowly disappearing although not all of them. Credit to Sicheng’s good  treatment, though it’s a little bit amateur.

“Winwin!” Johnny had to call Sicheng since the younger didn’t come out of his room. He heard his voice but couldn’t catch what he’s saying. “Need some help?”

Without waiting for Sicheng’s response, Johnny decided to approach Sicheng. But the sound of footsteps from the living room stopped him. He saw a tall figure of a tall boy appear near the huge classic clock. That tall boy stopped in his tracks after his eyes met his.

Johnny had no idea who he was. He and that tall boy were only staring each other until Sicheng’s voice broke the weird silence in the dinning room. He heard a name slip out of Sicheng’s mouth as the boy walked over to the dinning table, placing a first aid kit and some small packs of medicines on the table.

Jaehyun?

So that boy’s name is Jaehyun?

“What are you doing here?”

 “They’re coming here. In ten minutes,” Jaehyun replied in a low concerned tone, as if he didn’t want to someone else hear what he’s saying. In this case, that _someone else_ was Johnny. Obviously.

Sicheng’s eyes widened, placing his palm on his mouth and cursing under his breath.

“I thought you’ve handled him already.”

“We all know who Kim Doyoung is, right? Once he wants something, no one can stop him. I’m not in right position to give any reason if he asks me why, though.”

Johnny was standing right next to his chair looking at two younger boys chatting. Looked like something’s happening.

“Winwin, what’s going on?” He called Sicheng out only to get the younger jumped a bit.

Jaehyun furrowed his brows on a strange name he just heard and was about to ask Sicheng when Sicheng motioned him that he would explain everything later.

Still on his spot near Jaehyun, Sicheng tried to answer Johnny. Of course, it was hard since he didn’t know how to explain it. Realizing Sicheng couldn’t find a right words, Jaehyun eventually spoke up.

“Our friends are coming here in less than five minutes and we don’t know how to hide you from them.”

Johnny completely froze. It’s nothing for him but somehow made him nervous too. But still, it’s not a big deal, though. He just needed to hide somewhere inside this house until Sicheng could kick them out of here. Right?

“Where is he? My Baby Chick!”

Before they could figure out how to solve the problem, Doyoung’s voice echoed from the front door. Sicheng and Jaehyun’s expression looked so horror, even worse when the footsteps could be heard clearly. And Sicheng had to clutch the back of Jaehyun’s black T-shirt nervously.

“A high class camping is starting in—Woah!”

Doyoung had to stop himself from running over to Sicheng and Jaehyun when he stepped into dining room and saw a stranger which was Johnny.

“You’re inviting someone else too?” Doyoung was in confusion since he didn’t know how to greet Johnny. Bowing politely or just waving hand and saying _hi_?

“Who is he?” Kun who almost hit his own forehead against Doyoung’s back moved his chin slightly towards Johnny.

Sicheng turned his head to Jaehyun who somehow could keep his poker face, trying to do telepathy with him. _What should I do? Can you help me?_ Jaehyun could feel Sicheng’s grip on the back of his T-shirt tighter.

“A Brother.”

A voice behind them made all those school boys get surprised and turned their heads to where the voice came from almost simultaneously. The same clueless expression was on their faces.

“I’m his brother. Not a real brother, but … you know …, complicated family tree,” Johnny tried to explain some nonsense lie that hopefully could feed Sicheng’s friends’ curiosity. It’s better than telling the kids that he’s a bad guy who was hiding from police here.

“ _Not a real brother_? A cousin?” Doyoung guessed quickly after thinking a few seconds. Johnny nodded hesitantly.

_Okay, a cousin is pretty good._

“I have some things to do here, I mean in Seoul, so his house is the best place to stay for couple days ahead. So … nice to meet you, Kids. I’ll … go to my room.” Johnny smiled to the four boys and walked slowly towards his room. Of course the way he walked make Kun and Doyoung furrowing their brows. Their eyes went to his legs.

“Is he injured or something? His walk kinda weird,” Doyoung hummed as he saw Johnny got inside the guest room.

“He’s involved in car accident before he came here. Not serious injuries but still could force him to walk like that. But it will get better in a few days, I can tell,” Sicheng answered right away without looking away from the guest room door that already closed.

“Hey, you’ve never told us about your cousin before,” Doyoung’s voice sounded like a detective who was investigating the witness of some crime case.

Sicheng rolled his eyes and said, “Have you ever asked me about him?”

“All you care about is only Sicheng’s Dad, though. Do I have to tell you how many times you praised his Dad? _Your Dad is a cool police~ He’s a genius~ Genius~ Genius~_ ”

Thanks to Jaehyun who could switch the topic.

“Let’s start our camping, then. Here.” Doyoung handed two plastic bags to Sicheng. “Delicious black bean pasta noodles, chickens, Cola and three movies. All of them are horror ones.” A second later, he had to groan as Jaehyun reached those plastic bags before Sicheng could do it. “I’m so done with you, Jaehyun. I swear I’ll separate you two tonight.”

Jaehyun only chuckled as he motioned Kun to help him arrange everything in the kitchen. He even playfully pulled Sicheng’s waist only to tell him to clean the living room. As expected, it caused Doyoung groaned louder that almost swung his leg to kick the brown-haired boy.

“Is it okay if we’re here? I don’t think your cousin will sleep peacefully tonight?” Doyoung asked, placing his backpack to the end of the long couch in the living room.

_Of course not, you idiot! You think he could sleep since you’ll be so noisy later once we watch the movie?_

Sicheng complained but it’s all only in his mind. And for visually respond, he gave a little smile and a nod.

A fifteen minutes later everything was ready. More than ten cans of cola, two big bowls of popcorn, four bowls of black bean pasta noodles, two bottles of cold water and some packs of candy were on the table in front of long couch. Four cushions and two thick and warm blankets were ready to wrap them and made them to huddle each other.

“I’ve prepared the first movie for us tonight. It’s about the cutest male doll with pretty orange hair, cute outfit and small knife—“ Doyoung got interrupted by the cushion that just hit the back of his head.

“You know I hate that movie!” Sicheng yelled under the blanket.

“That’s why I want you all to watch that,” Doyoung giggled and got back to the couch, still managing to push Jaehyun away in the process when the brown-haired boy about to flop next to Sicheng. “You sit over there, Jung Jaehyun. I don’t want this movie get ruined by you who obviously will be focusing on how to hug or kiss Sicheng. I DEMAND—“ Doyoung couldn’t finish his speech as Kun pulled the back of his T-shirt that made him fall down to the couch.

“Shut your mouth and enjoy the movie,” Kun hissed and pressed the _Play_ button on the remote. Jaehyun sneaked into the blanket that Kun shared with him. Meanwhile Doyoung who was right next to Kun tried to embrace Sicheng in his arm tightly and murmur “You’re mine tonight” in his ear playfully.

And just that, the four boys were enjoying the movies while feeding themselves with those snacks. Kun and Jaehyun looked more interested to the movies than Doyoung and Sicheng who kept screaming everytime they saw the scary scenes or heard the scary background music. Kun almost threw his empty popcorn bowl to Doyoung’s mouth as the tall boy didn’t look to stop screaming anytime soon.

“I can’t continue watching anymore,” Sicheng gave up, hand pulling the blanket over his head to cover his face. They’re watching The Conjuring now and the screen was showing the scariest scene. Sicheng had to curl up against Doyoung who was blabbering some curses although he couldn’t take his eyes away from the movie. _I hate this but it’s interesting_ , Doyoung said.

“You scaredy-cat, don’t press me like that. I don’t want Kun to slap me with that remote,” Doyoung grunted, arm pushing Sicheng’s head away from him. A sudden black shadow passed by in front of him in a flash and a second later he felt the couch lightly get bounced. He turned his head to his right side and found Jaehyun already sit next to Sicheng. “Wait, how did you get there? I told you to stay away from him!”

“Hey.” Ignored Doyoung’s complain, Jaehyun softly patted Sicheng’ head and got surprised as the boy quickly turned around and hid his head to his chest. The blanket was still covering Sicheng, anyway. As if he just got a jackpot, Jaehyun wrapped his arms around Sicheng and placed his chin onto the top Sicheng’s head and continued watching the movie, hand gently rubbing a random circle on Sicheng’s back. He felt proud of himself, somehow.

“The movie isn’t even scary. Maybe it’s because we’re watching it with all the lights on. Weird, huh? It reminds me of someone who loves dark and scary stuff but—“ Jaehyun coughed as he felt an fist just hit his chest a little bit strongly under the blanket.

“I got noticed by them. Wow. And—okay, I’ll stop. You’re killing me.” This time Jaehyun felt a hand grab his throat, like someone was ready to strangle him in any second.

Teasing Sicheng was always fun for him, but the way Sicheng showing the revenge was also always scary.

oOo

Sicheng closed the front door and locked it after sending off his crazy friends. They’re really expert how to “use” their rich friend. Calling the taxi and paying it for them, he did all of it. And they still left a messy living room for him as _payback_. How cruel.

He sighed looking at the room. Popcorn everywhere, empty cans on the floor, one of blankets was hanging on to the edge of the couch and the other one was thrown ten steps away from the couch.

“ _Thank you_ , guys.” Sicheng rubbed his tired face and dragged his feet towards the couch. But he stopped. It was nothing. Just.... he prefer to yawn first. He’s obviously so sleepy. Actually he was about to sleep when he’s hiding under blanket, but Doyoung’s screams interrupted him. And now he had no any strength to clean up this mess.

“Tomorrow. Okay. Tomorrow,” he hummed, promising to himself that he would wake up earlier to clean up the living room before the housemaid aunt came. He shuffled into his room and threw himself onto the bed. He forgot to close the door, of course. Not only that, he also didn’t care enough to shift into a more proper sleeping position. He’s on his stomach, already snoring lightly and eyes closing perfectly. Sicheng’s always like this, falling asleep easily.

It had been like one two hours since Sicheng knocked out on his bed after dealing with his friends and their stupid camping. He’s in his deep sleep when Johnny entered his room.

Johnny, who was done cleaning the living room all by himself, sighed looking at the sleeping boy. Yeah, he just came back from the living room which got ruined by four naive boys brutally. Thanks to all his efforts, the living room looked like normal before Sicheng’s friend came. Not to mention how he struggled bending down to put cola cans and blanket and had to hold his painful groans so he wouldn’t make any sound that could wake Sicheng up.

“Winwin ....”

Johnny touched Sicheng’s arm lightly, trying to tell him to sleep in proper and comfortable position. He’s surprised a bit as the boy moved suddenly, mumbling something and flipping over in his sleep. Okay, at least Johnny’s light touch on Sicheng’s arm made the small impact. Now, the boy was sleeping in a normal position.

The bright light in Sicheng’s room made Johnny furrow his brows, his head rising up to see the light on the ceiling. He crunched his nose and closed his eyes immediately a second he saw the light.

Too bright.

It’s too bright for him.

“He even forgot to turn off the light. How could he sleep with the light on so bright like this?” Johnny clicked his tongue, shuffling slowly towards the nightstand and reached his hand towards the switch on the wall. He turned off the light and immediately Sicheng’s room went dark, but for Johnny who used to be so familiar with this kind of dark place, he seemed so easy to look around.

Actually, he was about to pull the blanket under Sicheng’s feet, but he refused to do it since it could wake Sicheng up. The heater was on, so hopefully it could make Sicheng feel warmer. For a moment, he was just standing next to the bed, watching the boy in his silence.

“You’re scared of horror movie but still forced yourself to watch it. Stupid boy,” Johnny murmured silently.

Yeah, he saw it.

He saw it all.

He saw how Sicheng and his friends spent their “camping” time in the living room watching three horror movies. He saw how Sicheng was scared and decided to hide behind his blanket until Jaehyun chose to leave his previous place and _save_ Sicheng by wrapping his arms around Sicheng.

He saw how those four boys had fun with their little warm moment which he never had one.

He’s jealous.

He felt jealous because he didn’t have friends who could do something like that with him. He’s all alone since his boss brought him into the _house_. If he had to be more honest (though it’s just simply stupid thoughts for him), he wanted to have cute and beautiful moment like that with people he knew.

No, that’s ridiculous. That would never happen. Johnny knew it so well.

“Good night, Winwin.” He gently stroked Sicheng’s hair for the last time before walking away from the bed. He’s about to reach the door handle when the corner of his eyes saw the movement from the bed. He turned his head. It seemed his footsteps made Sicheng wake up.

“Winwin, I was just—“ Johnny had to furrow his brows as he saw Sicheng suddenly got up and sat against the headboard, his hands holding a pillow and burying his face into it. His shoulders were shaking badly.

“Winwin?” Johnny walked over to left side of the bed to approach Sicheng. “Hey, what’s going on?” He tried to pull the pillow from Sicheng’s hands but the boy was holding it tightly. Johnny noticed Sicheng’s hands were also trembling.

Once he could remove the pillow from Sicheng’s grip and threw it away, he tried to grab Sicheng’s hand but Sicheng flinched away. At that moment, he knew something’s wrong with Sicheng. And it already made him worried since he couldn’t fully figure out what’s happening.

“Winwin, you okay? Hey, look at me. What’s going on? You just had a nightmare?” Johnny asked Sicheng a lot of questions, hoping Sicheng could give any response. After three seconds of the silence, he heard a weak whimper from Sicheng that he barely could catch the words

“What did you say?” Johnny leaned in, placing his hand around Sicheng’s shoulders and gently rubbing his upper arm.

“T-t-t-the...l-l-light...,” Sicheng spoke with his shaking and weak voice.

Johnny felt the unusual pain in his heart hearing Sicheng’s voice.

_The light?_

_What’s wrong with the light?_

Sicheng repeated what he just said. His voice sounded like he couldn’t breathe properly and was about to cry. His instinct led him to hold Johnny’s hand tightly although he felt so weird and unfamiliar with the warmth of Johnny’s hand.

And it made the pain he felt get worse. His chest tightened, as if the air knocked out of his lungs, leaving him gasping desperately. He couldn’t help but imagined anything bad in his mind. Every single scary thing that came into his mind make his breath going heavy.

He wanted to tell Johnny to turn on the light, but he couldn’t even raise his head and open his mouth.

“T-the... l-light, _H-hyungnim_... The...t-the...l-light,” Sicheng tried to speak again.

And at that moment, Johnny finally got it. He quickly moved his hand, pressing the switch on the wall so he could turn on the light inside Sicheng’s room. In a second, the room went bright like before. Johnny could how desperate and miserable Sicheng’s condition were. Cold sweat, shaking shoulders, trembling hands.

“Wait here, okay?” Johnny’s voice sounded so soft.

Sicheng only nodded and release his grip on Johnny’s hand. He took a deep breath and released it slowly as straightened his back against the headboard of his bed, eyes blankly staring at the wide window in front of him. His heart was still beating so fast.

“I’m safe. I’m safe now. I’m safe,” Sicheng murmured as he wiped the cold sweat off his forehead. He turned to see Johnny entering his room with a glass of water in his hand.

“Drink this.” Johnny sat down on the empty spot near Sicheng and handed that glass. “Drink it slowly.”

“I-I can drink it by myself, you—“

“Your hands are still trembling like that. I’m just helping you to hold the glass,” Johnny cut off, hand wrapping the glass and Sicheng’s both hands which were already holding it.

There’s nothing Sicheng could do but obeyed what Johnny told him. He really needed to drink it, anyway.

“Feel better?” Johnny placed the empty glass to the nightstand and looked at Sicheng, checking every single part of his face and his expression silently. He wouldn’t lie to himself that he literally panicked when he witnessed Sicheng having mental breakdown like that.

Sicheng’s scared of dark place, that’s the answer. He put all the puzzles together after he’d been wondering why he saw so many lights in every single corner in Sicheng’s house and why Sicheng always slept with the light on.

“Thank you, _Hyungnim_. And I’m sorry for—“

“It’s fine.”

Sicheng sighed, “ It’s embarrassing”

“Everyone has their own phobia. That’s normal, though. Hey, you can go back to sleep. You look ... tired.” Johnny stood up and was about to walk when Sicheng suddenly gripped his sweatshirt sleeve. He looked down at Sicheng who seemed hesitant to say something.

“Can... can you stay here?”

Sicheng’s question made Johnny rose his brows, clueless.

“Until I fall asleep. You can go when I fall asleep. I just ...”

“Okay.”

Sicheng scratched his nape nervously as Johnny gave a quick answer and flopped on the previous spot, motioning him to go back to sleep.

“The... the light....”

“I won’t turn it off. I’ll let it be like that when I go out.”

“Okay. Good... good night, _Hyungnim_.”

A second after saying that, Sicheng quickly sneaked into his blanket, showing his back to Johnny since he’s too shy to face him.

_It would’ve been different situation and easier to handle if the one was with me was Jaehyun._

Yeah, Sicheng was right if he mentally had to scold himself like that. Showing his weakness in front of stranger was quite embarrassing.

When he’s accidentally like that, finding himself in his dark room, he would always find Jaehyun’s hand and held it as tight as he wanted because his best friend would always with him when this situation came to him. And after that, he would hug him and buried his face into Jaehyun’s chest or neck to comfort himself, lessening the fear that grew in his mind. He would feel Jaehyun wrapping his arms around him and whispering some comforting words in his ears.

But tonight....

Jaehyun wasn’t here.

His best friend wasn’t with him.

oOo

A black car stopped quietly at the end of the alley which was near the river in the middle of the night. Yuta came out of the car with a serious look on his face, eyes wandering towards every side he could reach.

“Let’s go there first, _Hyung_ ,” he spoke to one of his older members as he pointed at the alley.

Yuta purposely walked slower than the other so he could check everything near him properly. When he saw the river, he stopped in his tracks. He turned around to look at some huge houses near the river which made him furrow his brows. One of the houses distracted him a bit. The one that looked so bright since there were so many lights on.

“Aren’t they too much with those lights.”

At first, he commented that house which was Sicheng’s house (if only he knew Johnny was in that house) but then, he clicked his tongue and turned his head back to the river.

“ That stupid brat crashed his car into that river, and then he’s just ... gone. And I still can’t contact his phone either. Damn it,” Yuta murmured to himself as walked towards the bridge, looking down at the river below him.

It had been four days but he and other members couldn’t find Johnny. They still didn’t know if Johnny was still alive or already dead.

“Where are you, Giant Ass?” Yuta ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

 

 


	6. THANK YOU ... AND I'M SORRY

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning : tons of typos and grammatical errors.

Today Sicheng was lucky. At least he could avoid his teacher who could had thrown a chalk towards his head or kicked his ass out of the class because he’s sleeping during the his class. Actually that had been happening for five consequtive days. He would always end up falling asleep during the first and the second class to the point he almost missed the lunch break if Doyoung didn’t hit his head with two notebooks.  And Kun who practically dragged him out of the class to the cafeteria so he could shoved some sandwiches into his mouth. Jaehyun? Sicheng specially had to thank him for giving his shoulder so he could rested his head on it for ten minutes to continue his sleep when they’re in cafeteria.

This week had been really tough for Sicheng, to be honest. He almost didn’t have a proper sleep just because Johnny, somehow, always sneaked into his room and accidentally turned off the light that caused him shocked to death. He couldn’t completely blame him, though. Not all people knew his weakness after all.

“You look like a shit. Wait, not like that,” Jaehyun laughed as Sicheng was ready to punch him. “You’re like a dying panda who just got beaten up by an angry bear right in the face,” Jaehyun handed an iced coffee to him.

“Is this good?” Sicheng scanned the drink in his hand suspiciously.

“That’s from the best cafe near our school. I’ve tried to ask you to go there, but you always rejected me.” Jaehyun pointed at the cafe behind them. “And coffee is the only thing you need at this moment. At least it can help you to stay awake until you get home.”

“I do feel so sleepy, but not to the point I could fall asleep on the street all of sudden,” Sicheng retorted.

Jaehyun chuckled before putting his arm on Sicheng’s shoulder. “So, what’s going on? That Youngho Guy’s giving you hard time  that you got sleep deprived? Or you’re studying too hard through the night that you only had three minutes to sleep in the morning? I don’t think the second guess is right because that’s not so you.”

“His name is Youngho, not _That Youngho Guy_.” Sicheng narrowed his eyes.

“Did you have to correct me like that?” Jaehyun’s voice sounded so annoyed knowing Sicheng was like he’s defending Johnny. But even so, he didn’t pull his hand away from his shoulder.

“Just a nightmare.”

Sicheng lied again.

“Huh?”

 “I said a nightmare.”

 “Wow, that’s new, though.”

“Yeah. “

“No. It’ serious, Sicheng. I mean ... you’ve never had any nightmare before. You can punch me in the face if I said it wrong, but I know you, dude.” Jaehyun slightly looked worried to his best friend.

Sicheng only nodded while drinking his iced coffee, agreeing whatever Jaehyun said since he lied to him. He reached out, pushing Jaehyun’s face away from him, motioning him to stop staring at him like that.

“Don’t imagine anything weird. I won’t get kidnapped by a bunch of aliens after I had a nightmare. Jeez ... Jaehyun, you should stop watching horror movie. And I still can punch you without having any reason, by the way.”

“Should we go to doctor to check your health?”

Sicheng almost choked on his iced coffee. “I’m not crazy!”

Jaehyun pulled his arm away from Sicheng’s shoulder and  knocked his knuckles against the dark haired boy’s forehead. “I meant your physical not your mental! Speaking of your mental, maybe all the psychiatrists in this town would resist to check your _error_ brain. You wanna know why I call your brain _error_?”

“No, thanks. I don’t wanna hear anything from you. Get lost. Your bus is here.” Sicheng pushed Jaehyun away as he pointed at the bus that just stopped in front of the bus stop.

“People who have a normal brain won’t let a stranger stay in their house for too long and— _akh_!”

“I said get lost!” Sicheng yelled after he could kick Jaehyun’s butt.

Well, Sicheng did feel upset to Jaehyun, but they’re best friends after all. He couldn’t totally hate him just because Jaehyun didn’t like Johnny.

“I’ll go home first! Take care of yourself, okay? And go home safely!” Jaehyun spoke loudly after turning around and waving to Sicheng.

“When will my Dad say something like that to me?” Sicheng hummed under his breath as he gave a smile to him.

Well, that smile was still on his lips until suddenly Jaehyun raised his both hands forming a heart-shapped above his head for him. That was ... embarrassing. Sicheng quickly looked away and rolled his eyes, pretending he didn’t know Jaehyun as he continue walking although he still could hear his loud laughter.

 “I hate him.”

oOo

A nightmare.

That was only an excuse so that Jaehyun would stop guessing around. Sicheng didn’t think he could tell the real reason because he knew exactly how Jaehyun would react.

Yeah, once again, the nightmare was only an excuse until he had one for real this evening when he accidentally fell asleep on the couch in the middle of doing his homework. Sicheng wasn’t sure he could explain everything, but he found himself being trapped in a dark room and scary voices screaming his name over and over from all the sides.

He wanted to scream, but he couldn’t speak. His hands reached out to every side, trying to get some help. But there’s no one in the huge room until ...

 “Winwin! Winwin!”

Sicheng opened his eyes in bolt, blinking rapidly to see clearly who’s shaking his shoulder and staring down at him with that worried look.

That was Johnny.

“ _Hyung_?” Sicheng breathed out before getting up, hand rubbing his forehead that covered by cold sweat and brushing his hair backwards. He’s still panting as if he just ran for hundreds miles. 

“You okay?” Johnny knew that’s stupid question when literally Sicheng wasn’t okay.

“I don’t know. I feel ... tired,” Sicheng replied with heavy breath

“You wanna drink? No. Wait here. I’ll go to get the water.” Johnny rushed into the kitchen and after a minute, he went back to the couch with a glass of water in his hand.

It became Johnny’s habit, somehow, whenever he saw Sicheng like this. He couldn’t explain why he did that. A basic manner to someone who helped him, maybe?

“Had a bad dream?” Johnny asked after taking the empty glass from Sicheng and placing it on the coffee table in front of them.

Sicheng only shrugged his shoulders. He ducked his head and brought his both hands up to cover his face for a moment before exhaling another heavy breath.

“You need to stop forcing yourself. I mean, studying is a must, but if you push your limit, you’ll hurt yourself,” Johnny tried to give an advice sincerely but a second later the younger only chuckled at him.

“You do sound like my friend Jaehyun.”

“Well, maybe people who really care about you would say the same thing.”

“So ... you also care about me, _Hyungnim_?” Sicheng looked at Johnny, teasing him. His eyes were suddenly sparkling a bit. His lips curled up into a sweet and cute smile. He completely forgot about the nightmare that he just had.

“W-what?” Johnny was flustered all of sudden. Honestly, he felt like he wanted to clutch his heart seeing that smile. Sicheng had been acting like someone else for the past week that Johnny had to think so hard to figure out what’s going on with him. He couldn’t see an innocent wide smile, sparkly eyes, happy face and cheerful behavior on him like an usual.

Johnny was still a stranger for Sicheng. He didn’t want to cross the line and made the atmosphere between them go weird. That’s why he just let him be.

But this evening ...everything was back to normal again.

That smile.

Those sparkly eyes.

Everything that Johnny liked about Sicheng was back.

“If you care about me, that means you’re my friend, _Hyung_!”

Sicheng’s voice snapped Johnny’s thoughts back to the living room. He blinked his eyes several times and looked away to the other side to hide his sudden nervousness.

“You’re no longer a stranger for me.” _Did he just read my mind?_ “We’re friends.” Sicheng raised his thumb up and giggled by himself. And Johnny just froze on his place, not knowing how to react. Sicheng was ... too cute and adorable.

“You’re such a kid.” Johnny had to grab Sicheng’s wrist gently and bring it down. He couldn’t help but laughed softly.

They’re friends.

Officially.

Finally.

The vibrating sound of Sicheng’s phone destroyed the sweet moment and Johnny slowly shifted a little bit further from Sicheng as the younger picked up the phone and seemed to have a serious talk with someone.

For the first minute, Johnny didn’t pay any attention since that’s Sicheng’s business. But after Sicheng suddenly stood up and looked so panicked while talking with someone through the phone, he looked up at him.

“I-I”ll be there. Give me ten minutes. Don’t leave him alone! I’ll—shit!” Sicheng stormed into his room and went out with his dark blue jacket, almost dropping his phone on the floor in the process. “ _Hyung_ , I need to go somewhere. I mean, hospital. You ... you just stay here, okay? I’ll be back and—“

“Winwin, calm down. Calm down. Calm down.” Johnny approached the younger and held his arm. “What happened?”

“My friend, Kun. You know Kun, right? The boy who’s slightly shorter than me and—what am I talking about?” Sicheng murmured. He obviously panicked that he couldn’t answer Johnny properly.

“Okay, your friend Kun. What’s going on with Kun?”

“His father went home and made a mess there. Kun’s mother got beaten up and now their neighbor is taking her to the hospital. Jaehyun and Doyoung are already on the way and—“

“I’ll go with you.”

“But—“

“I’m your friend. Remember?”

For a second, Sicheng just stood there looking at Johnny with that unreadable look, but then he shook his head and back into his room again to take something.

“Can you drive my Dad’s car?” Sicheng showed the silver key.

oOo

Sicheng stormed into the hospital  dan looked for where Kun’s mother was getting treatment. He even forgot Johnny was with him. There’s only Kun, Kun, and Kun on his mind. He’s really worrying his friend. Knowing Kun’s father—who barely went home and always looked drunk whenever he’s at home—had the nerve to hurt his wife and his son already made Sicheng’s heart hurt so much.

“Guys!” Sicheng shouted a second he saw his friends who were standing in front of the Emergency Room. His heart was broken seeing how Kun sat on the bench, ducking his head and sobbing. “His mom?” He turned his head to look at Jaehyun who just pulled his hand away from Kun’s shoulder.

“She passed out after his Dad pushed her against the wall harshly. He even kicked Kun’s head when Kun was trying to help her. And after that ... he just ... ran away,” Jaehyun explained slowly.

Sicheng looked down at Kun. He slumped down next to the dark-haired boy and pulled him into his arms, patting his back and whispering into his ears that everything would be okay.

“Have they checked his head?” Sicheng asked Doyoung who kept on rubbing Kun’s arm.

“He’s fine. Nothing serious.”

For a moment they went silent, waiting for the doctor who was still inside the room checking Kun’s mother. Sicheng was still wrapping his arms around Kun until he realized that he forgot Johnny was in hospital too. Before he could turned his head towards the end of the hallway to see if Johnny was there, emergency room door opened and the doctor stepped out of the room. They all stood up and looked more frightened than before. The doctor brought a good news for them : Kun’s mother was fine and just needed to take some rest. Doyoung hugged Kun and told him that all of them would stay here tonight meanwhile Jaehyun silently pulled Sicheng closer to him. They both watched how Kun looked a little bit relax in Doyoung’s arms. It’s relief.

“I’ll take your stuff. Give me your house key,” Jaehyun spoke to Kun.

“No, you stay here. I’ll go,” Sicheng said, hand grabbing a small key from Kun before Jaehyun could take it.

“What?”

“I came with Youngho _Hyung_. He can take me to Kun’s house. We’ll come back soon. Don’t worry.” Sicheng only patted Jaehyun’s back and turned around, walking through the hallway to find Johnny.

Sicheng felt guilty as soon as he saw Johnny standing near the lift alone. And he felt more guilty when he found himself asking the older to take him to Kun’s house. He was anticipating Johnny would resist his ask, but no, the older just smiled and nodded his head.

Sicheng kept his mouth shut after he seated himself into passenger seat, only stole a slight glance towards Johnny when the car started moving. And that’s it, everything went silent inside the car. They both were drowning into their own thoughts. Johnny’s focusing himself on the road, making sure he didn’t involve both of them into an accident since other cars were passing them like a bolt. And Sicheng ..., he’s just sat right there, in his seat, playing his sweater paws on his lap while staring at the dashboard blankly.

It’s either a _thank you_ or _I’m sorry_ , Sicheng had no idea.

 

“He went to Kun’s house alone?” Doyoung asked Jaehyun who just got back from the bathroom.

The dark-haired boy only shook his head, eye looking at Kun’s mother who’s lying on the bed unconsciously. “He’s with his brother,” he added.

“That super tall guy?”

“Whatever you call him, but yeah.” Jaehyun took a folded blanket from the corner and threw it towards Doyoung who were resting on the small couch. And Then he shuffled to Kun who’s sitting on the small chair beside the bed. “You need to take some rest too, Kun.”

Kun looked up at Jaehyun and squeezed his hand softly. “ I’m fine. The one who needs to rest is you, though.”

Jaehyun snorted quietly. If the state wasn’t like this, he would’ve yelled at him to stop acting like an adult. “If something happens, wake me up. No, I’ll try to stay awake.”

“Wanna bet? You’ll pass out in ten minutes after you throw yourself onto the couch,” Kun said jokingly.

“You’re not the type of person who can stay awake until midnight, Jung Jaehyun. A simple proof is you always make Sicheng awake alone when he asks you to sleep over,” Doyoung joined, yawning after lifting his both legs on the couch and almost kicking the wooden coffee table in the process.

“That’s because—“

“That’s because he’s scared of dark room that’s why he’s always so clingy to you on the bed which is something you always anticipate the most when you’re with him.“

“Shut up, Bunny,” Jaehyun hissed, throwing himself to the empty space next to Doyoung after pulling his friend’s legs down from the couch.

Kun only giggled softly. At least his friends tried entertaining him with their bickering. He turned his head back to his Mom, rubbing her hand gently. His face looked sad again. The fact that he couldn’t save her from his crazy father really broke his heart.

“Guys, I’m sorry for ...” Kun turned around only to see his two friends were already dozing off on the couch,  Jaehyun’s head falling down from headrest to Doyoung’s shoulder. That was quick, he thought. He was sure he could hear their voices arguing something silly a couple of minutes ago, but now ...

“Thank you, guys,” he muttered. Maybe that’s the only thing he could say to them for now.

Somebody opened the door softly and it made Kun turning his head towards the door. Sicheng’s skinny frame showed up with a black bag in his hand, raising it and shaking it a bit as he walked in.

“You’re back,” Kun smiled tiredly, eyes finding Johnny standing awkwardly in the doorway.

“Youngho _hyung_ bought some drinks and breads for us.” Sicheng placed a paper bag that contained chocolate breads and four cans of milk coffee on the table. He look down at Doyoung and Jaehyun who were already in their dreams, maybe.

Kun quickly stood up and bowed to Johnny. The older was still there in silence, but when he’s about to correct what Sicheng said, Sicheng shook his head motioning him not to say anything.

“Let’s talk outside.” Sicheng grasped Johnny’s wrist and dragged him out of the room.

“Why did you lie to him that I bought those ... those things for them?” Johnny asked, furrowing his brows.

“Because I want my friends to know that you’re a nice person,” Sicheng replied innocently.

“I’m not, Winwin.”

“But in my eyes, you are. Now, I want you to go home, I mean to my house. You need to rest too since you’re still recovering. Take the medicines before sleeping, _Hyung_.”

Hearing Sicheng’s words made Johnny’s heart almost jump out of his chest. What was that? He wished all those words were wrong. Sicheng might be out of his mind.

_He let me go home? To his house? He really told me, no ... he really told a stranger to go back to his home? All alone?_

“ _Hyung_ , you still can drive, right? Oh, maybe I should call taxi for you.” Sicheng slipped his hand into his pocket to take his phone out, but Johnny’s hand stopped him.

“I could steal your dad’s car, Winwin. I could steal everything inside your house.” Johnny blurted out.

Sicheng burst into laughter. “ _Hyung_ , you’re so innocent, oh my God.”

“It’s serious, Winwin. I’ll stay here with you and your friends. I can’t get inside your house without you.”

“Youngho _hyung_.” Sicheng placed his hand on Johnny’s shoulder, still giggling. “I know you won’t steal my dad’s car and I know you won’t steal everything inside my house. I know you won’t do any of them because I trust you. I’m sure you will just park the car in the garage once you’re home, and then you will take your medicines without eating something first. And then you will go to your room and sleep after turning off all the lights. That’s it. That’s all you will do later.”

Johnny was speechless. Totally.

His heart probably would burst if he didn’t take a deep breath.  It’s too much. Just too much.

“You ... trust me?” Johnny asked hesitantly.

And a single nod from Sicheng already made something in Johnny’s chest tightened in a good way. Just a single nod but it sent a full warm feeling into his cloudy heart. It’s the first time for him knowing someone really trusted him this much. _Is this a dream_?

“I’ll go home .... safely, Winwin.”

oOo

Johnny closed the main door carefully and stepped into the living room. He groaned quietly as he felt the slight pain on his left leg. Oh, he totally forgot that his legs had not fully recovered yet. Probably it was because he walked too much in the hospital. Not to mention how he ran only to stop Sicheng from running around frustratingly. Fine, after this he would do what Sicheng told him. Taking his medicines and going to sleep. He didn’t want to betray Sicheng after all.

Johnny stopped in his track near the stairs as he noticed something odd. His eyes wandered around slowly. All the lights ... he was sure all those lights were on when he and Sicheng got out. No one of them turned them off, but this ...

Something odd.

Johnny could feel it, like ... he wasn’t alone in the house.

“You’re losing your sense, Johnny?”

A voice snapped Johnny’s head around. That voice came from the couch in the living room. He felt alarmed when he saw someone sitting on one of the couches. He recognized their voice.

“Yuta?” Johnny guessed, voice slightly shaking for no reason. He wished that someone was just some amateur thief who liked to mess around before stealing everything, not Yuta.

“Took you long enough time to recognize your own friend, huh?”

That’s Yuta.

Johnny gasped silently. He froze on his place as Yuta stood up from the couch and approached him. That’s ... really Yuta when he saw that face, that smirk, that slight messy black hair.

“Come here, you Giant Brat.” Yuta pulled Johnny into a hug although he had to tiptoed so he could hug him a litlte bit comfortably, patting his back several times. “I missed you so much. I thought you’re already dead.”

Johnny’s hands were still on his sides. He was supposed to hug his friend back, but he felt it wrong. Something was wrong about Yuta’s presence in this house.

Yuta pulled himself away to look at Johnny, brows furrowed. “You didn’t miss me? I just gave you the most emotional hug though I had to lessen my pride to do that. You’re such an asshole, dude.”

Johnny stared at Yuta with suspicious look. “How did you get in?”

“Huh?”

“How did you find me? How did you get in? I’m pretty sure I locked all the doors and windows before leaving.”

Yuta snorted. He didn’t know Johnny would give him those unexpected questions.

“How did I find you? How did I get in? I’m Yuta, remember? I always have a thousand ways to get into someone’s house, including this one. The passcode is pretty simple that I could break it in one or two minutes,” Yuta sounded so proud of himself. A moment later he looked at Johnny from head to toe. “You look ... healthy.”

Johnny was still silent.

“Let’s go home.”

 _Let’s go home_. Johnny felt like he just got slapped by something after hearing Yuta’s word. His eyes widened. _Let’s go home? Where? Which home now?_

“Boss is waiting for you. All the members are also waiting for you,” Yuta spoke in serious tone.

Johnny ducked his head, staring at the floor blankly. Now Sicheng’s face and how the younger telling him to go home so he could take his medicines and rest were replaying in his head. He looked so lost for a second before shaking his head, resisting Yuta’s offer.

_Not yet._

_Not now, please._

_I’m not ready .... yet._

_I don’t know why, but ... just ... please ... not now._


	7. Thank You for Everything

Johnny froze and looked so surprised. Meanwhile Sicheng were just giggling quietly on the couch, slowly grabbing a coffee cup from the older’s hand and looking at him and Kun back and forth.

“Guys,” Sicheng tried to break the odd silence in the living room after placing the cup on the coffee table.

Kun cleared his throat and replayed what he just said to Johnny a couple seconds a go.

“Thank you, _Hyungnim_. Thank you for helping me.” He even bowed politely in front of Johnny who still couldn’t get his sense back.

Sicheng had to poke Johnny’s waist as the older didn’t show any response. He wanted to laugh but after realizing their awkward expression, he held it as much as he could.

“Can you both sit down first? Like ... please? Okay, I got it. Kun, I know you wanna thank him and ... _Hyung_ , I know you ... you ...don’t know how to react, but ... seeing you two standing like that makes me feel a bit ... you know ...” Sicheng couldn’t help it but snorted all of sudden.

Kun immediately sat down on the couch in front of Sicheng and glared the dark-haired boy.

Johnny slowly took an empty space beside Sicheng. He’s obviously nervous. Yeah, nervous. There’s nothing wrong here, in the living room. Sicheng and Kun didn’t do anything wrong. It’s his problem. For the first time in his life, he heard someone thank him so sincerely for something he didn’t do. Why did Kun thank him? For what?

“You wanna drink something? I still have some cokes in the fridge. Or maybe something warm? Or hot? Or just water?” Sicheng asked (or more like _teased_ ) Kun.

When Kun’s about to complain, Johnny opened his mouth to say something.

“I didn’t do anything. Why’d you thank me?”

Both Kun and Sicheng turned to look at him in confusion as they noticed how serious Johnny’s voice was.

“You saved him, _Hyung_ ,” Sicheng answered.

“Not practically _saved_ , but you came with Sicheng to the hospital and bought us drink and breads. That’s enough for me to feel grateful and thank you,” Kun added.

“But I—“

“Kun, you’re here only to say that? I thought you wanna meet me and give me something,” Sicheng interupted, slightly glancing and smiling at Johnny. And that’s it, the topic had changed. Kun looked more relax and now he’s chatting with Sicheng about their school and stuff, like usual.

Sicheng gave light smacks on Johny’s thigh for several times as he kept on giggling over Kun’s story and randomly said “You know that, _Hyung_?” to him.

Johnny couldn’t help but smiled secretly as he watched the younger boys conversing.

oOo

“You can run and jump around here if you want. Your legs seem better now. Wanna try?” Sicheng said, placing two cans of coke on the coffee table and sinking himself down on the couch. Johnny almost dropped his comic as Sicheng suddenly landed his head on his lap. “I’m sorry, _Hyung_. But I always lay down like this every time I have to memorize some points about my subjects.”

Johnny nodded awkwardly and brought his comic back in front of his face. “On Jaehyun’s lap?” he blurted out and got startled by himself over his own question.

“Yeah. He’s the only one who never bothers me, even if I stay like this for hours. He never complains,” Sicheng bragged about Jaehyun proudly.

Johnny sighed silently and flipped the next page. The comic wasn’t interesting anymore. He tossed the comic off on the empty space near him and looked down at Sicheng who looked so serious reading his book. His hand stopped in the half way as he reached out to touch the younger’s soft hair.

“He doesn’t really like you, to be honest. I’m not sure why. I’ve asked him but he always made other topic,” Sicheng spoke again without noticing what Johnny’s doing.

“That’s what you should’ve done when you met me that time,” Johnny putting his hand down, his fingertips slightly scratching the fabric of his sweatpants.

Sicheng sighed, eyes looking up at Johnny. “Hyung, I can’t even count anymore how many times you thought you’re a bad guy and whatever. And do not start telling me that I shouldn’t have trusted a stranger like you,” he added as Johnny’s about to cut him off.

Seeing Sicheng’s annoyed face made Johnny chuckled a little. The younger’s words already comforted him for the nth time, somehow. He mindlessly reached out to stroke Sicheng’s hair. This time he wasn’t hesitant.

“May I continue studying? And I love it when you play my hair like that, by the way,” Sicheng giggled.

 

Half of an hour passed and Johnny almost finished his comic. He yawned as he flipped the next page and noticed a brown-colored book already covering Sicheng’s face. He wasn’t sure since when the book fell down and covered the younger’s face. Carefully, he took the book away from Sicheng’s face and a second after that he found the innocent yet peaceful face from a sleeping boy. Oh, and since when that boy fell asleep on his lap? Probably, he was too focus on the comic to notice him.

“Winwin?” Johnny tried to wake Sicheng by shaking his shoulder lightly. Sicheng only hummed without moving his limbs and continue snoring softly. Johnny tried waking him up once again, now shaking his shoulder a little bit harder. He got shocked because suddenly Sicheng rolled over onto his other side, facing his stomach and breathing against the fabric of his sweatshirt. Sicheng was still in his deep sleep.

Johnny found himself not breathing for a minute after Sicheng clutched the fabric of his sweatshirt like a kid. He turned his face away and breathed slowly, but then he’s back looking down at Sicheng and observing his face again. Or maybe it could be called as _adoring_.

The way Sicheng slept on his lap. The way Sicheng clutched his sweatshirt. Wait, Johnny might be too much, but he found it heart-fluterring. It’s like Sicheng didn’t care at all about everything and just chose to sleep like this. Like his lap was the safest place for him to sleep.

“You’re crazy, Johnny,” Johnny sighed, cursing himself under his breath. “Should I let him be like this? What if he feels cold? He even forgot to turn on the heater,” he questioned himself as he placed his hand on the younger’s back and was about to rub a circle on it when Sicheng made a sudden move again. This time the younger shifted closer to him that his nose brushed against his sweatshirt.

Johnny flinched a bit. It felt uncomfortable but warm and sweet at the same time.

“Okay. Just sleep tight, Winwin.” Johnny gave up. He would just let the moment be like this. He didn’t care if he had to stay like this until tomorrow morning. As long as Sicheng could sleep soundly, he didn’t care about anything else.

The smile that had been there for a couple seconds disappeared because of the soft whistle from accross the room. He snapped his head to look at someone was already leaning against wall near the living room. he’s alarmed, hand quickly covering Sicheng’s ear. He knew someone’s coming and he recognized who they were.

“You’re so sweet, Johnny,” Yuta spoke, pointing at the sleeping Sicheng with his hand that’s holding a can of coke. “I swear to God, this is my first time seeing you like ... like ... this? You’ve never been this soft before. It doesn’t suit you, though. But it looks cute.” He approaced Johnny and took a seat in front of him.

“Yuta, you shouldn’t be here,” Johnny tried to talk as slow as he could so he wouldn’t wake Sicheng up.

“Yeah, I shouldn’t be, but I’m already here. _To pick you up_ ,” Yuta’s voice sounded serious in the last words.

“I’ve told you I will find the right time. It’s not like I would run somewhere and won’t go home at all,” Johnny said.

Yuta nodded, hand placing the can on the table. “Because of that kid? You two seem pretty close. If people don’t know who you are, they might think you’re brothers. You know, tall and handsome and stuff. I’ve followed him for a couple days, and I think ... he’s quite normal. A normal kid, or school boy or whatever he is. _Normal_ , Johnny.”

Johny knew why Yuta mentioned the _normal_ part more than once. He knew very well.

“He has nice house, nice school, nice friends. everything. And—“

“Don’t start to be so annoying, Yuta.”

“Don’t I always look like that in your eyes? I’ve been that annoying since our first met, though.” Yuta paused for a moment, looking down at the floor between the couch and the coffee table as if he’s thinking something. “Okay, fine. Let’s wrap up for today. I’ll go home.”

Yuta pushed himself off the couch and fixed his black shirt under his dark blue jacket. “Go find a right time to say goodbye to him. I’m saying this because there will be the time I have to pick you up _slash_ drag you out of this house and bring you back to our home. You’be been here too long, dude. You need to get back where you belong. Remember, you are not normal. We are not normal. By the way ..., I’ll turn on the heater.” He patted Johnny’s head before walking out of Sicheng’s house.

Everytime Yuta sneaked into this house only to meet him, he always felt unstable and a little bit scared for unknown reason. And everytime he saw Yuta, he felt like he got slapped by a fact that his place wasn’t here. His life wasn’t here.

Sicheng’s soft groan pulled Johnny’s thoughts back into the living room. They younger mumbled something against his sweatshirt before he nuzzled his nose against the fabric, closing the _already no gap_ between them by sneaking his hand behind Johnny’s waist until he reached the other side of the older’s waist.

oOo

“Don’t tell me you drank something last night. Kid, we’re still underage. How dare you—“

“Shut up, Doyoung.” Sicheng slapped Doyoung’s mouth with a bag of chips and looked back at the basketball court in front of them. He leaned his back against the tree behind him and sighed.

“So if you didn’t drink something, why do your face look so red today? You kissed a girl last night?” Jaehyun joined in, getting a high-five from Doyoung. “You rarely look like this, though.”

Doyoung and Jaehyun looked annoying and that’s enough for Sicheng to move closer to Kun who’s silent watching other male students playing basketball.

“They suck,” Sicheng grunted slowly, hoping Kun at least could join him to plot Doyoung and Jaehyun’s death.

“You think you don’t?” Kun teased, glancing at Sicheng with a smirk.

Sicheng was ready to hit Kun but thankfully, Kun wasn’t that stupid to ignore Sicheng’s pissed look.

“Sorry,” Kun laughed, swinging his arm around Sicheng’s shoulders. “So, what is it? You look like an innocent girl who just stole a kiss from your crush. Your cheeks are as read as tomato.”

It took more than a minute for Sicheng to confess something stupid he had done last night.

“I was drooling,” Sicheng spoke under his breath but Kun still could catch his words.

“Huh? More spesific, please?” Yet Kun is still confused.

“What? Drooling? Who’s drooling?” Jaehyun who pressed himself against Sicheng’s arm giggling with Doyoung.

“Guys, please,” Kun tried to shove the two tall guys away so Sicheng could tell him more about whatever drolling accident was.

“Did you watch porn videos? Wow, our Dong Sicheng!” Doyoung cracked up, hitting Jaehyun who’s also laughing so hard with him.

Sicheng growled in frustration. When would they let him alive and explain everything? He’s willing to grab their throats to death as he felt more embarrassed.

“Come one, kids. That’s too much.” At least Kun’s personality which was more matured than the others could shut their mouths. Doyoung and Jaehyun sudenly became nice listeners in two seconds.

“Tell me who’s drooling,” Doyoung repeated Jaehyun’s question in serious tone though he’s holding his amused smile. Jaehyun nodded agree.

Seeing those two friends like that made Sicheng more frustrated.

“Why are you guys so mean to me? I didn’t watch any porn videos nor kiss a girl! I just did the same thing like I always do when I study with Jaehyun last night and I was accidentaly drooling on Youngho hyung’s cloth.” Sicheng burried his face into his palms and groaned. “I couldn’t even dare to look at him this morning. That was so embarrassing. I shouldn’t have fallen asleep, ugh.”

Instead of laughing like what Doyoung and Kun did, Jaehyun suddenly went silent.

“You mean you were laying down and resting your head on his lap but then you fell asleep and were accidentaly drooling in your sleep?” Jaehyun spoke ten second later.

Sicheng narrowed his eyes, annoyed. “Did you have to said it like that?”

“Oooh details! Jung Jaehyun, you’re genius!” Doyoung shouted, punching Jaehyun’s arm.

“You’re not helping at all,” Sicheng hissed.

 

oOo

Sicheng literally dragged Jaehyun into his house as he entered his own house as if he’s afraid of something. He even wandered around to make sure there’s no one inside his house. And Jaehyun couldn’t even release his arm from Sicheng’s grip.

“Do I have to act like nothing happened or just apoligize to him? I don’t know what to do, Jaehyun,” Sicheng was in panic and Jaehyun only rolled his eyes.

“Figure it out by yourself,” Jaehyun mumbled as he fell onto the couch. “I’m still upset, to be honest.”

Sicheng furrowed his brows. “Upset? To me?”

“You think?”

“What did I do?”

Jaehyun didn’t answer. He placed his both hand under his head and breathed out.

“Did I not pick up your phone?”

“Not that.”

“Did I borrow your underwears but I forgot to give them back to you?”

“What? As I recall, you’ve never borrowed any underwears from me. But I can count how many times you stole my boxers last year.”  

“I broke your phone?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Jaehyun was more confused over Sicheng’s words.

“What did I do that you’re upset to me? I don’t remember anything!”

Jaehyun sighed. “Never mind. That’s nothing. Now what? What am I doing here? My Mom would kick my ass if I’m not going home in an hour.”

“ _Sleep over_?” Sicheng pleaded.

“I hate you.” Jaehyun reached out his navy jacket and threw it to Sicheng harshly. “Go ask your Youngho hyung instead. Where’s he, anyway? Is he sleeping? At this hour? It’s not even ten yet, though.”

“I can’t believe you still wear this smelly jacket. Try wash it once in every two days.” Sicheng threw that jacket back to Jaehyun before suffling into guest room to see if Johnny was really sleeping.

No one in there.

But he found something on the nightstand.

A letter.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading this mess ^^ sorry for tons of typos


	8. We Have Our Own Life ..., Right?

_Winwin, it’s me, Youngho hyung._

_Actually I didn’t mean to leave you like this, but I couldn’t think anything right than this._

_Thank you for helping me. Thank you for taking care of me. Thank you for everything you done to me. I will never forget about it. I don’t know it it would happen in the future, but I wish we can meet again. In a better situation, of course._

_Take care of yourself, okay?  
_

Sicheng dropped Johnny’s letter on his desk, spinning himself in his swivel chair slowly. He breathed out  a heavy sigh, leg accidentally bumping against Jaehyun’s knee. He startled a bit and straightened his sitting position.

“Why are you here?” Sicheng grabbed the letter and shoved it under his Math book. Jaehyun caught it but he pretended his didn’t see it.

“ _Why are you here_? Dude, I came here half an hour ago because you asked me. And a minute ago you asked me to get you this coke. Got a sudden brain attack that you forgot everything?” Jaehyun threw the can and Sicheng caught it perfectly in his both hands.

“Sorry. My mind was off for a second,” Sicheng murmured after opening the can.

Jaehyun jumped on to Sicheng’s bed, gathering all his books which were all over the bed. “Hey, can you hand me Kun’s calculus book, I think— _thank you, you shit,_ ” Jaehyun grunted after his head got hit by a black book that Sicheng just threw at him.

Sicheng chuckled. “You’re welcome.”

For fiften minutes, Sicheng room went silent, both of them focusing on their homework. Jaehyun’s fingertips were dancing against the keyboard typing out the files for their group speech, humming some unknown melody while jokingly turning off the light several times only to see Sicheng’s dramatic reaction and laughing his ass off.

It was Sicheng’s fifth reaction after Jaehyun trolled him again and he’s about to headlock him as the doorframe swung open. A tall figure appeared behind the door, making them snapped their heads over the door.

“Mr. Dong?” Jaehyun startled, pushing Sicheng away and getting up in a bolt speed to greet him properly. Sicheng only rolled over to sit on the edge of the bed, randomly ruffling his own hair.

“I knew you’re here, Jaehyun. That’s why I brought you some things for dinner. Come on,” Mr. Dong motioned the young men to get out of the room.

“At least he didn’t forget that he has a son here, though the first one he greeted was someone else’s son. Ironic,” Sicheng murmured under his breath, but it’s loud enough for Jaehyun to slap the back of his head.

“Can’t you be more grateful? It’s been a month since your dad went home. Welcome him nicer, you brat. Get up. He’s preparing our dinner. I’m starving, to be honest. At this rate, your dad is so much nicer than you. He barely goes home, but once he does, he always treats me delicious meal. Not like his son who always shoves unhealty stuff into my mouth everytime I feel hungry—“

“Let’s just eat.” Sicheng rolled his eyes, dragging his feet out of his room towards the dinning table where his Dad already finished preparing their dinner. He only gave a dry smile when his dad told him to sit down.

Seeing there were only two bowls of rice, two pairs of chopsticks, two spoons, two glasses of water and one big bowl of chicken soup, complete with small plates of side dishes made Sicheng let out a quiet sigh. He smiled bitterly knowing everything on the dinning table was for two people. Which meant one of them wouldn’t eat and he knew who.

“Got another case? What is it now?” Sicheng made a topic, though he didn’t want to, as he pulled one of the chairs. Jaehyun come out and sat down next to him five seconds later.

“Black market. Kind of selling guns illegally.“

“Your team is the one that’d be investigating it?” Sicheng cut off, feeding his mouth a spoonful of rice.

“I hope so,” Mr. Dong answer it casually, hand placing a bottle of water near Jaehyun’s hand. “I have to go. Take care of yourself, okay? Call me if there’s something important happen.” He gave Sicheng a quick small pat on his head before leaving.

Sicheng’s still holding his chopsticks until he heard the main door slamming close. He dropped his chopsticks a little bit harshly on the table and let out a heavy sigh. Jaehyun who was had been silent since he sat there a couple minute ago only turned his head to look at Sicheng.

“How I wish I was born as your parents’ child. I’m okay if you’re my older brother or my little brother. Better if we’re twins. That’d be much better than this,” Sicheng spoke slowly.

“I’m the one who wouldn’t feel okay instead,” Jaehyun replied deadpan.

Sicheng snorted and glanced at Jaehyun. “Thank you. I appreciate your _not-so-good-and-more-like-immature_ comfort. Glad to have you as my best friend. I don’t know what would happen to me, if you weren’t around.”

Jaehyun could feel the sincere look from Sicheng, but he couldn’t let him to see how red his ears were hearing that cringey stuff.

“You know what, I don’t know what kind of mistake I did in my previous life that I have to have you as my friend in this life,” Jaehyun said, taking his bowl and starting to feed himself.

“Are you insulting me?”

“No comment.”

“I can murder you with these chopsticks, by the way.”

“Do it later. Let me finish my dinner first.”

 

oOo

 

Johnny hopped out of the black car and brushed his hair off his face. He and other members just got back from their _duty_ which was sending three boxes of guns to their customer at the empty building near the airport. This was his first time doing their _job_ at the place that had full of risk as they could get caught by police if they weren’t careful.

And now ... it’s time to _re-charge_ a.k.a drink alcohol and dance in the club with the guys till dawn. They said it’s an usual reward.

 “Hello, Johnny!” Yuta shouted, coming towards the mini bar with a glass of vodca in his hand. He hopped onto the high chair next to Johnny, spinning himself around to watch their members gathering and getting drunk in the middle the club _._ “I missed drinking something with you like this. Cheers, huh?” He lifted his vodca. Oh, someone was a little bit drunk.

Johnny ignored him and kept on drinking his cold beer slowly.

“I souldn’t have expected you’d change your shitty personality after getting some special treatments from that kid. You’re still the same boring johnny that I’ve known for five years. You suck,” Yuta sighed, bringing the rim of his vodca glass and sipping the liquid.

“You’re wasting your time,” Johnny replied, placing his beer carefully onto the bar and running his hand through his hair. He turned to look at Yuta’s side profile which he just noticed there’s a dark scratch near his temple. “Where’d you get that?”

“Huh?”

Johnny pointed at Yuta’s face and the shorter guy only snorted.

“Fought with someone? Or dumbly bumped against something?” Johnny guessed but only got a curse from Yuta a second later.

“My handsomeness won’t disappear easily even if I get a super tiny scratch like this. You have a strong rival over here,” Yuta felt so proud of himself.

Johnny waved his hand and pushed Yuta’s head in the process. He accidentally looked down at his watch. It’s already 11 pm and Sicheng’s face suddenly showed up on his mind. At this hour, that kid would still stay awake in his living room doing random thing after finishing his homework. He still remembered how Sicheng sneaked a chinese takeout into his house in the middle of the night and ate it alone at the dining table while played his favorite phone game.

He knew Sicheng could live on his own though sometimes he would bring Jaehyun home, but Johnny couldn’t stop thinking of him, somehow.

“You done? I wanna go home.” Johnny drank his beer and placed the empty bottle on the bar and jumped down from the chair.

“It’s not even 3 am yet! You’re not an underage girl, jeez ...,” Yuta retorted.

 Johnny rolled eyes and grabbed Yuta’s vodca glass and slided it through the bar towards the bartender. “He’ll pay for the drinks,” he added, then pulled the shorter guy out of the club.

“We’re free tomorrow! Can’t you let both of us enjoy the night and drink until our livers explode?” Yuta slapped Johnny’s hand away from his arm and fixed his jacket.

“If your liver explodes, you’ll be dead and dead man is useless. Now get in the car. I’ll drive. You’re too drunk to save your ass from any car accident later.” Johnny opened the door and pushed his friend in passenger seat a little bit harshly.

 

Johnny was in his room, sitting on the end of his bed. The lights were already off. Yuta somehow sucessfully sneaked out of their aparttment, probably continuing to fill his liver with another. He couldn’t stop him, though.

He laid down on his back, eyes staring at the dark ceiling. He felt cold. It’s the same cold that he had felt for years, but ... it felt different now. He couldn’t explain why, it’s just ... different. Something was off for unknown reason.

But then again ... he felt like he got back to his track, got back to his comfort zone as a member of this _family_. He still remembered how his boss hugging him tightly after he went home. He could clearly feel the fatherly hug spreading around his shoulders to his back. He missed that hug, actually. He even almost teared up when his boss was checking him from head to toe, making sure he’s totally fine.

His home was here. He belonged to this place.

“Let’s just sleep,” he sighed.

He fell asleep in his current position after he decided to turn on the light. He felt dizzy at first, but then, his eyelids went heavy and he didn’t remember anything.

It was his first time falling asleep with the light still on in his own room. And later, he found himself curling up in someone’s arms ... in his dream.

He felt warm, weirdly.

He could smell a soft vanilla scent.

 

oOo

 

It had been a month and both Sicheng and Johnny were completely back to their _normal_ life. Sicheng with his school stuff, his stupid ass yet loyal friends, his _soulmate-like_ best friend, and video games.

Meanwhile, Johnny just ... being Johnny. Acting like an actual sloth which made Yuta yell at him every second. He’s super fast when they’re on _duty_ , but once they’re done and he’s back to his apartment, he become a person who was done with their life. Yuta even had to kick him out of the apartment and told him to buy something though it’s unnecessary.

Just like today, Yuta managed to force him to buy some cartons of egg and two boxes of cereal. Random, yes. At least Johnny had something to do than dragging his feet around their apartment slowly like a lazy zombie. Seriously, Yuta hated him being like that.

“Candies .... he’s making a mess with the wrong person,” Johnny hissed reading Yuta’s text that asked him to buy candies. He threw the brown paper bag which contained three cartons of egg, five boxes of milk (Yuta wanted two, but he decided to buy extra boxes as stock), two bottles of facial wash, random toothbrush, some cans of beer, two bags of chips and weird adult magazine which was given by the cashier into the backseat.

His black car was slowly moving down to the street. The ride was silent. No sound of music or radio inside the car. The only sound that could be heard was only the car engine. And the only movement was only his hands on the wheel and his eyes blinking every five seconds. It’s good as he’s focus on the road.

His deadpan expression had been on his face for half of an hour since he left the grocery store. But once he stopped at the right light and saw a bunch of school boys walking across the street in front of his car, he got a little shocked.

When the green light was on, he’s supposed to turn right since the right road was his way home, but he drove his car onto the different road instead and stopped ten minutes later near the small store. He didn’t come out of his car, eyes fixing on the school gate that just got opened. He tilted his head and paid so much attention to every students who came through the gate.

His eyes brightened as he saw a tall boy with dark hair and dimple. Well, he’s not waiting for him, to be honest. It’s just ... if he finally saw that dimple boy, it meant he would see the other one which was ...

“Ice cream! Ice cream! Ice cream!” Sicheng came out of the gate, hands in the air excitedly and jumping like a kid before throwing himself onto Jaehyun’s back. Doyoung and Kun came out three seconds later and tried to pull Sicheng down from Jaehyun’s back.

Johnny rested his chin onto the wheel, gaze softened looking at the four boys walking together across the road to reach the small store, their favorite store. And his gaze was even more softened as he looked at Sicheng only. He smiled seeing how the boy talking and joking with his friends.

He didn’t realize how much he missed Sicheng until he saw him today. The main point he could feel relief was knowing Sicheng looked healthy and happy like he should be.

“At least you’re fine, Winwin,” he hummed, straightened his position and leaned his back in his seat, waiting for the boys coming out of the store. Kun was the the first one who appeared with an ice cream in his hand. And then Doyoung followed him with a can of coke. Sicheng and Jaehyun were the last ones who came out with Jaehyun’s arm wrapping around Sicheng.

Suddenly he’s surprised and stupidly tried to hide behind the wheel when Sicheng turned around and looked at his side, wandering his eyes around to look for something he didn’t know. He cursed himself for being stupid. He’s literally inside the car and no one would care about who he was, but he just had to try hiding in his seat ... spontaneously. Dumb.

The sound of his ringtone almost made him jump and Yuta’s name popped out on his phone screen.

“What? I can’t find candies. And stop asking me to buy weird things,” he snapped a second he brought the phone to his ear.

[They caught one of our members, Johnny.]

Yuta’s tone sounded so serious and it made Johnny put all his annoyed feeling away. “What do you mean? _They_? _They_ who?”

[Police. Boss sent one team to Busan to meet our foreign dealer last night. I think they didn’t check the place more carefully and properly before the _meeting_.]

Johnny tensed up in his seat. It’s like a sudden warning because he had to meet new dealer tonight. “When did that happen?”

[Twenty minutes after the _meeting_ , I guess. Do you have a schedule tonight? I heard some members talking about new dealer or something yesterday.]

Johnny sighed, “Yeah.”

[You have to be more careful, man. The problem is getting more serious now. We can’t predict if our _duty_ is safe or not.]

Johnny only hummed, having a little annoyed feeling because he lost Sicheng. He didn’t even have a chance to see when he’s gone.

[I wish I could go with you. But I need to watch the fresh new episode of my favorite drama, so ...]

“Fuck you.” Johnny hung up the phone and shoved it back into his pocket. His brows furrowed thinking of the news he just heard from Yuta. Now police kept their eye on this _job_. Last time he could run away from them, but this time ... he couldn’t let himself feel confidence. Worse thing could happen and he had to watch out.

 


	9. Our Best Moment? Or only Mine?

The _meeting_ was done ten minutes ago. Nothing happened like what Johnny thought before they arrived at the building. The dealer got the weapons and he got the money which was saved in the backseat of his black car now. Kim, an older member who’s with him offered a cigarette to him, telling him to relax a bit after noticing how nervous he was during the _meeting_. Well, no one could blame Johnny as he always felt like that whenever they had _meeting_ with the dealers.

 “Thanks, hyung. But I don’t smoke,” Johnny refused.

“Let’s get out of here, then,” the older said.

Johnny nodded and walked around the car to reach the other door, glancing at the black bag in the backseat before climbing into the passenger seat and wearing his seatbelt. The car was slowly getting out of the empty and abandoned building and moving in standard speed on the empty road. He was staring at the night view through the window beside him blankly. The lack of coffee before this _meeting_ caused him yawn for several times, plus it’s 2 a.m already. He’s nodding off and his head accidentally bumped against the window that made him jolt a bit immediately.

“Hey, Johnny. Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, hyung,” Johnny replied hesitantly, turning his head away from the window to look at the older.

“Have you ...ever asked yourself about this?”

Johnny didn’t answer. He furrowed his brows in confusion. “ _This_?”

Kim nodded. “Yeah, _this_. Have you ever asked yourself why you’re here, why you’re doing this, why you live like this?”

Johnny was stunned in his seat It’s his first time hearing this kind of question from one of the older members and honestly ... he didn’t know what to say.

“Don’t think too much. I’m just asking,” Kim laughed at Johnny’s confused look. “Today is my 10th anniversary of whatever is this. Amazing, isn’t it? I’ve been doing this thing for ten years.”

Johnny pressed his lips, ducking his head. It’s either a proud feeling or a regret ..., he couldn’t tell since the older’s expression was unreadable.

“And have you ever imagined a lame plot on your mind about different life? Like ... getting a proper job, drinking with friends or coworkers or family, having dinner with someone special, watching movie with friends. Everything that normal people do. Have you ever imagined it?”

“I don’t know, hyung,” Johnny replied, glancing at the older for a second before bringing his eyes back to side view through the window. He breathed out the long sigh silently, his mind re-writing what the older just questioned to him.

It would be a lie if he had never asked himself like that or imagined something normal like what Kim said. And luckily he could really feel it. There’s no need any imagination for him as he experienced all of it by himself when he’s with Sicheng.

 _Drinking with friends_ ..., he did that with  Sicheng, though they’re just drinking coke that time.

 _Having dinner with with someone special_ ..., he did that with  Sicheng. _Special ..._ he had no comment about that.

 _Watching movie with friends_ ..., he also did it with  Sicheng.

 _Everything that normal people do_ ..., he did it with  Sicheng in a short time and he never regretted every single second he spend with that boy in that house.

Living in normal life was bright and beautiful that he almost forgot where he came from and who he was.

Once again ... this conversation made him miss Sicheng more.

 

oOo

 

It’s Saturday night. Mostly people would go out with their friends or best friends or special friends or their boyfriend or girlfriend or maybe their family to spend the night together. But for Sicheng who’s completely alone tonight would only brought his ass out of his house to do anything outside. He had his dad’s card and some cash in his wallet to buy some snacks if he wanted to eat something.

“No one told me winter would be this sad,” he hummed as he entered the mall, putting his hands into his hoodie’s pockets.  Eyes were wandering around the first floor of the mall. His eyes brightened seeing four little boys running towards him. He stepped backwards to give them way and told them to be careful. “Cute,” he muttered as he continued walking.

For the first half of an hour, Sicheng still could keep the bright and relax expression on his face as he walked into three different book stores, but once he got out of the last store and faced the nearest food court that full of people eating and drinking with their families, his face got darker. It looked like he’s the only on who’s alone in this huge mall.

“Too much lights,” he sighed, hand slapping his own mouth a second later. He’s so stupid for saying that stuff since place like this would always have so many lights.

So, to lessen the uneasy feeling that came out of nowhere, he decided to bring himself into clothes store. Well, buying some new T-shirts wasn’t a bad idea. He had his dad’s card after all. If his dad had the nerve to scold him because he spent too much money, he would just spit out how long his dad had left him alone in their house. Maybe he would ask him why he forgot his birthday last year.

Sicheng didn’t take a long time to have ten T-shirts with different plain colors hanging on his arm. He even clicked his tongue when he couldn’t hold the urge to buy a bright yellow hoodie in front of him. But when he’s about take the hoodie, a hand reached out from his side taking the hoodie he wanted.

The hoodie was taken by someone else and Sicheng silently pouted his lips, sighing and turning around to walk towards the opposite side. But a _not-totally_ familiar voice stopped him half way.

“It looks perfect for you.”

Sicheng looked over his shoulder to see a tall figure of a brown-haired guy in black hoodie. His eyes widened. He was definitely surprised by that guy’s presence. It had been one and half of a month since he left his house ...

“I’ll buy this for you,” Johnny approached Sicheng who froze staring at him. He couldn’t help but smiled. “Still wanna look around?”

Didn’t get any response from the younger, Johnny sighed and took all the clothes away from Sicheng’s arm and put them on his.

“Those are mine,” Sicheng finally spoke after getting all his sense back. Without waiting for Johnny’s reply, he grabbed all his clothes a little bit abruptly, eyes glaring at the older.

Noticing Sicheng’s mad look, Johnny apologized and promptly bowed a little to which made Sicheng feel awkward.

“I know you must be mad at me. I shouldn’t have left you like that and—“

“One coffee and everything will be fine.”

Johnny raised his brows, confused. The younger pointed at the hoodie in his hand.

“That, too. I’m trying not to punch you or anyone here although I know you’re older than me.”

Feeling amused, Johnny couldn’t hold his smile at Sicheng’s cute behavior. He followed him to the cashier and bought the hoodie for him. The rest of their way to the cafe in front of the mall was silence. Sicheng even still kept his mouth shut though his Frappuccino Latte was already on the table. A small plate of cookies was also on there with Johnny’s Americano. The cookies looked cute, but Sicheng didn’t pay any attention to it.

“I guess everything is not fine,” Johnny made a conversation. “Winwin—“

“I thought we’re friends, hyung,” Sicheng snapped, making Johnny felt guilty for leaving him without saying anything but a letter.

“I’m sorry,” Johnny said slowly.

For a moment Sicheng was still glaring at Johnny, but then he gave up and let out a heavy sigh. “I wish I could hate you a little bit longer.”

Johnny had to get confused in his seat as Sicheng dropped his face onto the table and groaned under his breath. He didn’t know what to do. His hand reached out to touch Sicheng’s head but he stopped half way when Sicheng picked his head up.

“You okay?” Johnny asked.

“It’s good to see you again, Youngho hyung. it’s good knowing you’re healthy that I can see you smiling like that. Not to mention that you really bought that hoodie for me,” Sicheng said emotionally. His voice even sounded like he’s about to burst into tears although he wasn’t. He just couldn’t hold the relief feeling that finally he had a chance to meet Johnny again after he doubted himself this time would come.

“Yeah, I’m healthy now. It’s because of you.”

Sicheng waved his hand. “Eeeey, what are you talking about? You’re healthy because you take care of yourself well. Just ... next time, please be careful. You’re too handsome to get bruises or scratches like before.”

Johnny chuckled but he nodded, telling the younger he wouldn’t hurt himself in the future though it sounded impossible for him. He didn’t want to ruin this meeting so he let himself get dragged into whatever Sicheng’s talking about which was all about his friends, his school his empty house. Actually, he didn’t care about the stories, but Sicheng’s sparkly eyes and how he told the stories made everything look fun. He found himself nodding, smiling and laughing through their conversation.

Johnny didn’t know a simple conversation would be this fun and exciting.

 

“I’ll miss you, hyung.”

Johnny almost dropped his phone when they’re filling their way out of the cafe. He snapped his head to look at the younger and completely forgot to reply Yuta’s message on his phone.

“W-what?”

“I said I’ll miss you. I stil feel weird looking at my house now. You used to stay there with me. Well, it’s just a week, but ...,” Sicheng paused, smiling sadly and looking up at Johnny. “unforgettable moments.”

“Go home safely, okay?” Johnny patted Sicheng’s head gently and walked towards his car, checking Yuta’s message while opening the door. Looked like he’s gonna be alone again in their apartment tonight. It happened at least twice in a week and he’s torn between two reasons. One, probably because Yuta had to go to meet the dealers like he and other members do in the middle of the night or early morning. Or two, probably because he, _always_ , had to get drunk at some club and ended up at hotel room with random girl (or maybe guy). He’s unsure about it.

Johnny almost cursed and got panic attack once he’s inside his car. Sicheng was already in passenger seat next to him, smiling innocently. Did he miss something or the boy really had that super power that he didn’t notice he get in the car?

“What are you doing here?” Johnny asked, holding his chest.

“At first, I thought I can go home by myself, but I ran out cash in my wallet. I spent my whole cash for an ice cream, spicy rice cakes, two balloons but I accidentally popped them with my fork that made a little kid near me jump, and another ice cream.”

Johnny was completely speechless while Sicheng casually wore his seatbelt in his seat.

“I’m still underage and walking alone at ...” Sicheng looked down to check his watch. “... it’s almost midnight. It’d be dangerous for me if I walk home alone. At least you’re an adult so I will feel safe if I’m going home with you. Plus, I can’t fight with bad people because I’m really bad at martial arts. Last time I fought with some students from different school, I ended up in hospital with ten stitches on my forehead. Not to mention how I got dark purple-ish bruise on the corner of my mouth because Jaehyun accidentally punched me when he’s supposed to help me kicking one of those students ...” Sicheng ran out breath and he just closed his mouth, eyes blinking at Johnny who still didn’t say any word.

“Can you take me home?” Sicheng breathed out, giving up on his ridiculous speech which was hard for Johnny to understand, _probably_.

When Johnny was about to open his mouth giving a response, Sicheng suddenly spoke again. And it sounded way too crazier that Johnny widened his eyes.

“Are you out of your mind, Kid?” Johnny had to make sure Sicheng was just joking.

Sicheng shook his head. “There’s one reason why I’m saying this, but I can’t tell you. I’ll be good and I won’t bother you. I will leave tomorrow morning. Hm? Please, just for tonight.”

Johnny looked away, fingers tapping the wheel nervously. He took the silence in his car to think of ... anything that came across his mind. Really, he wanted to think of something, but he got nothing. Well, he hoped at least there’s one excuse to decline Sicheng. He could make up any story, but he could’t find any.

It’s beyond Johnny’s expectation, to be honest. Taking home the boy was fine. He still could do it. Just dropping him off in front of his house ...., he could do it. But this ...

Despite all his confusion and complicated thoughts, he’s surprised finding himself arrived in front of his own  apartment building ... safely. Oh, and with Sicheng, too.

“You really brought me here,” Sicheng muttered, pulling off his seatbelt and looking at the grey-colored building through the window in amaze. “Wow.” He’s the first one who came out of the car. He continued _wow_ -ing how perfect the building was. Looking like one of those fancy yet mysterious building in action movie, he said.

Johnny who mentally finished slapping his own face for the most ridiculous decision he took in short time and with blank thought only snorted at the younger. _Fancy yet mysterious building_? He really wanted to laugh, but he has other concern to think about.

“I won’t look at it,” Sicheng said after they arrived in front of Johnny’s apartment. He turned around, back-facing Johnny who’s ready to punch in the passcode on the keypad near the door handle.

The door was unlocked with the light sound of _bing_ and Johnny pulled open the door, nudging  Sicheng’s arm and motioning him to get inside hurriedly.

Sicheng’s first impression when he’s already inside the apartment wasn’t totally different with what he showed outside the building. After kicking off his shoes, he wandered around the living room and the kitchen which were only separated by one black couch.

“It’s ... small,” Sicheng hummed, hands slightly swinging on his sides. He stopped as he noticed Johnny was leaning against the wall with arms crossed. He replied what he just said.

“It’s nothing. A big nothing if we have to compare it with your house.”Johnny walked towards the kitchen and opened th fridge, putting out one cup of strawberry-flavored yogurt for Sicheng.

“Thank you. But I’m not comparing anything and I’m not a toddler who has to drink yogurt before sleeping,” Sicheng complained yet still took the yogurt from Johnny.

“You just wanna sleep here, right?”

Sicheng only nodded as he’s busy swallowing the yogurt. His hand pointed at the closed room behind Johnny.

“Guest room?” He asked after clearing his throat.

Johnny turned to look at behind him for a second. He had to hold Sicheng’s arm as the younger walked towards the room. “That’s not a guest room.”

“Huh?”

“So ...,” Johnny explained. “ ... We only have two rooms here and—“

“ _We_?”  Sicheng interrupted in confusion.

“Yeah, _we_. I mean I and my friend. My housemate,” Johnny continued after  Sicheng nodded, understood.” ...My friend isn’t here tonight because he has something to do out there. I can’t tell where because I’m not sure where he’s going. And that room is his. And because that is his room, you can’t sleep in there. He ... easily turns into monster if he knows someone else touch his stuff and has an ability to skin them alive. Plus, his room is a mess.” Actually he didn’t want to make Sicheng scared, but he told the truth. From the _monster_ part until the _mess_ part ... all were true. He himself almost got killed because he  accidentaly stepped into Yuta’s house and kicked his wine bottle. Luckily. Yuta had a hard time to reach his head due to their height difference.

Well, after that long explanation, Johnny was shocked to himself who talked so much.

“Couch is fine, then.” Sicheng looked at the couch near him.

“No, it’s not fine. You can sleep in my room. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“What about we both sleep in your room?” Sicheng suggested and he suddenly shuffled towards Johnny’s room and pushed open the door. He’s slightly startled as the dark room welcomed him right away.

Johnny switched on the light inside his room. Sicheng slowly entered the room, eyes scanning every corner, in a good way. The bed was big enough for two or three people, there’s a closet in the corner of the room with a small couch next to it. The wall was empty, no framed photos or paintings hanging on it. Overall the room was clean.

“Change your clothes first.”

Sicheng jumped a little hearing Johnny’s voice, bringing his thought back to his head. The older handed him a black sweatpants.

“I’ll find a clean t-shirt so you can—“

“I’m gonna wear this hoodie.” Sicheng raised his left hand that’s holding a yellow hoodie.

Johnny blinked his eyes. “Oh ..., okay. The bathroom is over there. The right side.”

Sicheng only grinned before making his way out of Johnny’s room to change his clothes in the bathroom. He came back two minutes later looking like a giant baby chick in the bright yellow hoodie. Johnny was right when he said the hoodie looked perfect for him, except the sweatpants that looked a little bit bigger and longer for him.

 _Cute_. Johnny hummed that word on his mind which caused him, _somehow_ , feel awkward by his own. He rushed out of his room to change his clothes, too. Surprisingly, it was his first time in his life changing his clothes before going to sleep in his apartment. He used to just throw his tired limbs onto the bed without taking off his leather jacket. He thought changing clothes would waste time and ruin his sleepiness. That’s much better than Yuta who liked walking around their apartment half-naked before bed time.

While waiting for Johnny to finish changing his clothes, Sicheng randomly checked the desk in front of Johnny’s bed. There were two locked cabinets under the desk which made Sicheng slightly furrowed his brows, but then he ignored it and moved to other side.

When Sicheng was about to touch a small notebook on the desk, suddenly the light went off. Everything turned into pitch black, causing Sicheng gasped loudly. He squealed and called Jaehyun’s name against his hand. His heart started to beating in rapid pace. He closed his eyes as his head was slowly getting dizzy. There’s instinct in his head to run. He turned around immediately and swung his legs to run. But his face bumped against someone’s jawline.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s fine! It’s fine! It’s fine!”

Sicheng could feel a pair of arms wrap around him tightly and a voice soothed him in his ear.

“W-what ... w-what... is it, hyung? H-hyung, i-it’s so ... so dark here. I can’t see anything,” Sicheng whimpered, hand clutching the fabric of Johnny’s t-shirt.

“I forgot to tell you that this building has electricity problem. It happens sometimes. I don’t know it would happen again tonight because last night it’s still fine. Are you okay?” Johnny’s voice sounded worried because he literally couldn’t see Sicheng though he’s wrapped in his arms. The boy was trembling so much and Johnny felt his heart hurt. He should’ve told him about the problem earlier. He already knew how Sicheng would react if the light went off all of sudden like this, yet he still forgot about it.

The light went on again causing both males jolted. Sicheng immediately pulled himself away from Johnny’s arms and held his chest, trying to breathe slowly. Johnny scratched his nape awkwardly, but he’s shocked seeing how pale Sicheng’s face was.

“You’re definitely not fine, Kid.” Johnny pointed at Sicheng’s face.

“Told ya, hyung. Me and dark room aren’t best friends. But ... will this happen again later? I would look so terribly awful and so annoying if the light go off again. Just like what you saw in my house,” Sicheng warned, still being on guard over the light above him.

Johnny chuckled softly and approached the younger. “You indeed looked awful but you’re not that annoying. And practically I didn’t see you, by the way. I couldn’t see anything either. Now, just go sleep,” he said, pushing the younger’s back lightly.

Sicheng was still uncertain when his knee hit the edge of the bed. But when he saw Johnny smile at him and make sure he’s there to look over him, he sighed in relief. He even felt more secure as Johnny also climbed up on the bed, sitting against the headboard with a pillow covering his lap.

“Is it okay if I sleep here too?” Johnny looked down at Sicheng who just pulled the blanket up to his chin.

“This ... is your bed, by the way,” Sicheng blurted out, a little bit confused.

Johnny looked away, thinking of some words to respond. “Yeah, the floor is really cold and uncomfortable. Let’s just say ... I decided to sleep here not because this is my bed, but because I’m ready to be _that tree for that koala_ if the light suddenly goes off again. You know what I’m saying?” Best response, Johnny.

 _The tree for the koala_. Those words reminded  Sicheng of Jaehyun who always said that.

“Different _tree_ ,” Sicheng hummed.

“Hm? What?”

Sicheng shook his head and said goodnight to Johnny before rolling onto his other side.

Tonight the light went off again for the second time, but Sicheng was already in his deep sleep, _strangely_. Meanwhile Johnny’s being all frustrated how to find a way to comfort  Sicheng if he woke up in surprise. After half of an hour passed and the light went on again ... and Sicheng was still sleeping so soundly next to him like nothing happened, he decided to keep his eye open for the rest of the night watching the sleeping boy.

 

The next morning, Johnny apartment became chaotic because Yuta, who just got home with messy look due to the hangover, found the half-sleepy Sicheng drink his milk near the fridge and he growled out of loud that Johnny who was stil sleeping in his room had to wake up in a bolt and sprinted out of his room to save Sicheng. Johnny knew this would happen and he owed the explanation to Yuta which he had to clear the situation before Yuta grabbed Sicheng’s throat to death.


	10. Just a Little Thing to Bring You Back Into Your Own World

Kicking his legs and looking around nervously, Sicheng was waiting for Johnny to come down. He glanced up at the building in front of him several times anticipating Johnny’s tall figure to come out. But no. No one came out of there. He’s afraid if Johnny and Yuta were trying to  kill each other because of him. He still could remember how Johnny gave that scary look to Yuta when he gripped his wrist and took him behind his back as the Japanese guy was ready to yell at him. He could’ve blushed at that time, but the tension around them was too scary, plus the smell of alcohol was all over the apartment.

Sicheng sighed, hands slipping into his hoodie’s pocket. Once again he looked up at the building. He didn’t know if  he had to stay here waiting for Johnny or had to go up to check if both older males were risking their handsome faces to get some bruises from each other. Yeah, he admitted they’re good looking, but that wasn’t important at this moment.

When he turned around and was about to walk in back to the building, Johnny was already approaching him. There’s no anger expression on the older’s face like what’s he’s expecting.

“I’ll take you home. Get in the car.” Johnny pointed at his black car but he stopped in his tracks as Sicheng’s held onto the sleeve of his jacket to which made him furrow his brows.

“I can go home by myself,” Sicheng said.

For a moment, Johnny was only looking at Sicheng until he thought something probably happened to him as he saw something off from Sicheng. “Is it because of Yuta?”

“What? No no no no.” Sicheng immediately shook his head, making sure his reply was sure enough not to make Johnny rushing back into his apartment and punching Yuta right in the face. “It’s not because of Yuta ... hyung?” His mouth felt weird calling Yuta ‘hyung’. Johnny raised his brows waiting for him to continue giving an excuse.

“It’s because ...” Sicheng bit the inside of his mouth, trying to find the best words from inside his mind. “Because ... you’ve done everything for me since last night. Yeah ... literally everything although you should’ve ignored my wish and told me to go home instead. You let me stay in your place for one night, took care of me when the light went off, offered your bed for me, and ... defended me from your friend. You’ve done everything, hyung. And I appreciate it. Thank you.”

Johnny chuckled hearing Sicheng’s words. He gave a light flick on his forehead and ruffled his hair. “You’re thinking too much, Kid. I did what I was supposed to do. That’s what friends do. We’re still friends, right?”

Sicheng grinned shyly, hand scratching his nape.”But, I still wanna go home by myself.”

“You sure?”

“Perfect sure. Just ... lend me some cash so I can call taxi.”

“What?”

 

oOo

 

News about police suspecting the hidden connection between two cases of guns black market and some _most-wanted_ bad guys gangs in town and news about fresh new corruptions scandals among politicians were taking over almost all national tv channels this afternoon.  Doyoung who planted his butt perfectly on the couch an hour ago literally squealed as he saw Sicheng’s dad appear on screen.

“Did your dad buy new leather jacket?” Doyoung pointed at the TV as Sicheng was back into the living room with two bowls of mixed-flavors of potato chips in his hands.

“I won’t get surprised if you start asking me about my dad’s underwear next time. But it’d be so creepy,” Sicheng mumbled as he handed one of the bowls to Kun who was sitting on the couch near him. “Try to pay your attention over the news. You’re slowly becoming my dad’s _sasaeng_ fan.” He flopped next to Kun, hand digging into the bowl and putting out a handful of chips. Kun had to hiss at him when he dumbly dropped some chips onto his lap and mouthed “stupid” at him.

“I don’t need to know about the news, though. Let’s just say those cases are ones of every country’s problems on daily basis and I’m too young to get headache over it. My life already sucks. Why would we think about those cases if we— _you almost slapped my mouth, Idiot!_ ” Doyoung growled after Sicheng shoved a handful of chips into his mouth.

“Where’s Jaehyun, by the way? I thought he’s already here.” Kun glanced towards the main door and looked back at the TV.

“Probably still mad at his boyfriend,” Doyoung blurted out, hand reaching the remote and changing the channels absentmindedly until he found some funny variety show.

“ _Boyfriend_?”  Sicheng looked slightly confused. Meanwhile Kun already figured out what Doyoung just said and nudged his arm, mouthing “ _You_ ” at him.

“He ran away in the middle of his boring family gathering and planned to hide in his boyfriend’s house, but he couldn’t reach him. He tried to call him  for like ... thirty times but he got nothing. So he chose to stay at my house and turned me into his _friendly_ ranting listener for the rest of Saturday night. It’s good that I  didn’t choke him to death. You weren’t there to witness how noisy he was in my room,” Doyoung explained.

“Well, the last words sounded so wrong in my ears,” Kun said mindlessly.

“You’re the innocent eldest here yet your mind is full of dirty stuff. Go get new brain instead,” Doyoung retorted, throwing chips towards Kun.

Sicheng’s head fell onto Kun’s lap, the tip of head slightly hit the bowl in Kun’s hand in the process. He cracked up hearing Doyoung’s rants. Kun rested his free hand on Sicheng’s shaking shoulder and laughed as well.

“ _How noisy he was in my room_ ,” Sicheng mimicked Doyoung. He wanted to continue his laugh. Even louder would be better. But suddenly his vision got blocked as something heavy fell down on his face hardly. He could feel Kun’s thighs jolted a little that caused his head jerk up.

It was a black backpack.

“Hello, Brother!” Doyoung shouted at Jaehyun who just came.

Jaehyun only waved his hand and looked down at Sicheng who’s removing his backpack from his face.

“Move away, you brat,” Jaehyun hissed, pulling Sicheng’s hand and pushing him away from his current spot before placing himself between Kun and the confused Sicheng.

“It’s my house, Idiot,” Sicheng snapped back, not taking too serious on Jaehyun’s word. He smiled after Jaehyun offered him some chips. “Someone is looking for you.”

“Who? You?” Jaehyun guessed.

“My dad’s _sasaeng_ fan,”  Sicheng answered and Jaehyun snorted.

“He said you were so noisy in his room and he almost choked you to death. Was the tension in his room that hot? You were so wild,” Kun added.

“This bowl can send you into emergency room, so watch out.” Doyoung showed his empty bowl and looked so annoyed.

“I’m jealous. You’re never that _loud_ everytime we’re in my room, Jaehyun,” Sicheng didn’t lose the beat. Kun was already dying that he had to smack Jaehyun’s arm.

Jaehyun hauled his arm around Sicheng’s neck and pulled him closer, smirking and tapping his nose. “Don’t worry, baby. I can be _loud_ like that if we’re in your room next time. What about tonight?” He leaned closer and tilted his head, giving a motion that he’s going to kiss  Sicheng.

Sicheng gasped and shoved Jaehyun’s face away immediately. He couldn’t hide how shocked he was when the gap between him and Jaehyun was just a breath away.

“Can we stop this topic? It’s getting weirder and more nonsense. I’m blushing. _Shit_ ,” Sicheng grunted, slapping Jaehyun who couldn’t hold his laughter.

“Somehow ..., I always survive in kind of this stupid conversation and both of them are always the ones who get dragged into it,” Doyoung hummed under his breath, tearing his eyes away from them and focusing himself on the TV instead. Kun quietly moved away from his current spot and joined Doyoung, sharing his bowl of chips and giving the last glance towards Jaehyun and Sicheng who were still bickering each other on the different couch before turning his head to the screen.

“Disgusting, isn’t it?” Doyoung whispered.

“You mean ... _you_? Licking fingers after eating chips is disgusting, too.” Kun merely narrowed his eyes.

“This bowl can send you into emergency room.” Doyoung glared at Kun.

“Yeah, you’ve said it twice. Good for you.”

 

Sicheng joined Jaehyun on the second floor balcony after washing the dishes and friendly kicked out grumpy Doyoung and Kun of his house. The brown-haired boy was standing with both hands gripping the metal railing, looking at somewhere. And Sicheng had to nudge him to remind him that he’s there too.

“Doing adult thing?” Sicheng spoke, turning around and leaning against the railing. “Drowning yourself into a very deep thought? What? You’re thinking of that corruption scandals news on tv? Sounds so you, though.”

Jaehyun only sighed, eyes still fixing at somewhere else.

“You lied to me, right?”

That question snapped Sicheng’s head towards Jaehyun. He rose his brows in confusion.

“About your disappearance a week ago,” Jaehyun continued. “I tried to call you, but your phone was dead. So, will you tell me where you were at?”

“At Youngho hyung’s place,” Sicheng answered quickly.

Jaehyun pulled his hand off the railing and furrowed his brows. He definitely looked so upset. He wanted to yell but he held it and only took a very deep breath and exhaled loudly.

“Nothing happened. I came home in the next morning because—“ Sicheng paused as he remembered how he got out of Johnny’s apartment. No, he couldn’t tell Jaehyun that Johnny had a drunk housemate who almost spat a fireball towards him because he drank his milk. “well ... just that.”

“Wow ...,” Jaehyun put his hands back onto the railing and bent himself down to release unknown anger from his head. He felt dizzy.

“You shouldn’t have been worried like this, Jaehyun.”

Jaehyun glared at Sicheng, lips slightly trembling to spit out his dissapointment. Sicheng was right, he shouldn’t have been worried like this, but he couldn’t help himself. Yeah, he would’ve felt okay if he didn’t have a spare keys to get a free pass into Sicheng’s house (Sicheng’s dad personally gave it to him three years ago and until now he still couldnt’ figure out why), or at least Sicheng picked up his phone.

“The last time you told me not to worrying you, you ended up shivering in front of a closed store near my house in the middle of the night for a stupid reason. It was raining so hard. You remember that? You drenched and you passed out after I helped you to get up. Should I also remind you how you got high fever that my mom cried because she couldn’t call your dad? I know you’re a stubborn kid, but I didn’t know you’re that fucking stubborn.”

“You’re literally nagging at me,” Sicheng hummed.

“You think?! I’m holding myself not to punch you,” Jaehyun hissed.

Sicheng placed his palm on his cheek and grimaced. “That’d be hurt.”

They went into silence after exhaling the long sigh in sync, letting the night breeze hit their skin. The soft wind was playing their hair. Sometimes, there’s a sound of car engine from afar and then it would disappear slowly. Both of them didn’t pay attention to it so much, though. Jaehyun settled down his a little after Sicheng brushed his arm against his lightly and tiltled his head only to show him his teribly cute puppy eyes. He lost when Sicheng poked his dimple several times.

“Hey, about the news this afternoon ...”

Sicheng snorted and started to giggle, making Jaehyun put an upset look on his face.

“ So you were really doing adult thing. Gosh, Jung Jaehyun,” Sicheng scoffed.

“I’m serious. It’s about that guns black market news. Your dad’s team is investigating that case, right?”

Sicheng looked at Jaehyun with full of confusion, but once something clicked in his head, he widened his eyes. His mouth parted, forming “o” shape. He reminded something.

“That video file!” Sicheng covered his mouth with his hand, surprised.

“You think the case is like what we saw at the port that night? You still have the file?”

Sicheng didn’t say anything and just ran into his room, sinking his hands down into the lowest cabinet of his desk to find something. Jaehyun followed him and only stood near the desk furrowing his brows. Sicheng’s head popped up from under his desk a couple of minutes later staring at his best friend.

“It’s here,” Sicheng said, showing a small see-through box that contained a tiny memory card he’d been keeping for months in his trembling hand.

Jaehyun took the box from Sicheng’s hand and opened it, carefully taking out the memory card and bringing it right in front of his face.

“You’re gonna give it to your dad?” Jaehyun placed the memory card on Sicheng’s palm.

Sicheng stopped his hand after putting the tiny card back into the box and looked at Jaehyun. The scene where he saw a bunch of people in black clothes gathering at the dark port and doing illegal thing was flashing through his mind and he could feel the similar fear running down through his spine.

He even gasped a bit as he remembered how one of those guys took out a gun of the box. Seemed like he made a face because Jaehyun looked worried and had to shook his shoulder.

“You okay?” Jaehyun was searching for any response in Sicheng’s eyes.

“D-do ... do I have to t-that? G-giving this to my dad?” Sicheng looked up at Jaehyun. His voice was slightly shaking.

“You have to. Maybe this file can help your dad to investigate their case.” Jaehyun squeezed Sicheng’s shoulder for a good measure. “Well, I’m not giving my one hundred percent but at least we’re trying. Helping police isn’t bad idea, after all.”

Sicheng still looked unsure about Jaehyun’s idea, but he couldn’t say _no_ either since he had a _possibly_ evidence for an important case.

“You said you’ve been waiting for the moment where finally you have to call your dad, didn’t you? This is the moment, Sicheng.”

Sicheng bit his lips, hand gripping the box tightly and eyes blinking nervously. “We’re .... we’re just gonna give this to him and we can go home after that, right?” he asked. Suddenly he could picture everything he would deal with after giving the memory card to his dad. Or probably he’s just thinking too much when he’s scared of something. Typical Dong Sicheng.

“Considering that we’re still underage, so nothing’s gonna go wrong. I mean we were playing around at the wrong place and then accidentally saw those people and because we were so fucking curious, we decided to record what they’re doing and ran away. We didn’t know anything about them, plus we were at the dark place, so we couldn’t see anything clearly. I don’t think we would get any trouble in the future because police would protect our identity. Your dad is also a police, though. He knows what he has to do. We’re safe.  That’s it. End of story.”

Sicheng wanted to believe Jaehyun and he always did.

This time he believed him again.


End file.
